Department for Transport

Railways: North of England

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent estimate he has made of the average per capita savings that will accrue to passengers as a result of the new timetable that will be in operation once the Transpennine Route Upgrade programme has been completed; and if he will make a statement.

Andrew Stephenson: TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU) - is the key East-West artery across the Northern economy. It forms the most direct existing rail link between several major cities. The passenger-related benefits of delivering TRU are formed from a combination of journey time and performance improvements, where passengers will benefit from arriving at their destinations sooner with a faster, more reliable and punctual service; furthermore, the service enhancements will benefit commuters - who can realise the potential of being more productive during the journey due to more frequent, less crowded service. The route upgrade spanning a large section of the northern economy will enhance connectivity and play an important role in improving peoples access to jobs. Major rail infrastructure programmes such as TRU will deliver significant economic benefits to passengers, but not direct savings.

Transport for the North: Contracts

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether Transport for the North will have the power to appoint a public sector operator to run TransPennine Express and Northern passenger services.

Andrew Stephenson: As currently envisaged the tendering and appointment of operators in England will be carried out by Great British Railways, in partnership with their key local and regional stakeholders.

Department for Transport: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment they have made of the potential (a) threats and (b) opportunities of artificial intelligence in respect of their Department’s responsibilities.

Chris Heaton-Harris: Technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning have many potential applications including in the transport sector. Innovation teams across the DfT support research and development initiatives conducted both within and outside of DfT. The role of these initiatives is primarily to investigate the potential for AI in predictive modelling on transport use and their potential for using data across transport modes to support analysis on transport use. For the most part these are academic initiatives at the research stage and are not used in the implementation of policies. The Digital Services team also pilots AI solutions for automated IT management.  As part of the overall development of the digital and data capability with the central Department, we regularly consider the scope and opportunities and threats which deployment of AI solutions may bring in our work. When identifying options, we will often pilot and protype solutions to explore their full value and potential or may use alongside existing services as augmented intelligence.

Driving Licences

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps he is taking to ensure that a backlog of driving licence renewal applications does not occur as the extension to expiry dates comes to an end.

Rachel Maclean: The Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA)’s online services have been available and unaffected throughout the pandemic and are the quickest and easiest way to renew a driving licence. However, many people still choose or have to apply for their driving licence using a paper application. The DVLA receives around 60,000 items of mail every day which must be dealt with in person.The DVLA has had a reduced number of operational staff on site to allow for social distancing, in line with Welsh Government requirements, but has leased an additional building to accommodate more operational staff. The DVLA has also extended the opening hours of its contact centre.The DVLA sends renewal reminder forms to customers two months before licences are due to expire to ensure drivers know when they need to apply to renew their licence. This allows drivers time to make their renewal application and the forms can also be used to renew a licence online or at a post office.

Transport for London: KPMG

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the timeline is for the publication of the KPMG report into Transport for London’s financial sustainability.

Rachel Maclean: The Government’s review into Transport for London’s future financial position continues to be a matter of live policymaking. The Government will continue to monitor the public interest test for when publication might be appropriate.

Parking

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will bring forward legislative proposals to prevent car repair workshops from parking vehicles on streets or in residential parking areas.

Rachel Maclean: The provision or restriction of on-street parking rests with the relevant local authority as they are best placed to consider how to balance the needs of residents, emergency services, local businesses and those who work in and visit the area. Local authorities may introduce Traffic Regulation Orders to restrict parking. They may prohibit parking altogether, or restrict it to particular times or types of user, e.g. residents. The vast majority of local authorities can also undertake civil enforcement of the restrictions in place.

Parking

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how much his Department and it's agencies have spent on planning and developing new car parking facilities in each the last five years.

Rachel Maclean: Local authorities are responsible for providing adequate parking provision on their roads. While the Department has provided funding to local authorities, this has not been ring-fenced for the purpose of car parking facilities.

Aviation: Coronavirus

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether passengers who are travelling to green list countries who have not left the UK in the previous 14 days require negative covid-19 tests to board a plane.

Robert Courts: It is a matter for each country to decide on appropriate health measures. Different countries require different tests in line with their requirements. It is important for travellers to check the relevant Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office Travel Advice for their destination when travelling to countries on the green list.

Parking

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many new multi-storey car park proposals have received outline or detailed planning consent on London North East Railway-owned land since June 2018.

Chris Heaton-Harris: London North Eastern Railway (LNER) have received planning consent for a multi-story car park at York station. The application for the car park forms part of the City of York Council’s York Station Front Master Plan scheme. This scheme is the only car park proposal made on LNER-owned land that has received planning consent since June 2018.

Blue Badge Scheme

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what estimate he has made of the proportion of blue badge holders who would be able to use a non-customised electric mobility scooter.

Chris Heaton-Harris: The Department for Transport has not made any such estimate.

Department for Transport: Freedom of Information

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Chris Heaton-Harris: My Department does not operate a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Travel Restrictions: Coronavirus

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what criteria he uses to determine how he reviews the traffic light system, indicating which countries are safe to travel to without the need for quarantining on return.

Robert Courts: The Joint Biosecurity Centre (JBC) produces risk assessments of countries and territories. Decisions on Red, Amber or Green List assignment and associated border measures are taken by Ministers, who take into account the JBC risk assessments, alongside wider public health factors.  Key factors in the JBC risk assessment of each country include genomic surveillance capability, COVID-19 transmission risk and Variant of Concern transmission risk. A summary of the JBC methodology has been published on GOV.UK, alongside key data that supports ministers’ decisions. The countries on the green list are those that present the lowest risk to the UK. Arrivals from green list countries must take a pre-departure test as well as a PCR test on or before day 2 of their arrival in England but will not need to quarantine. Countries on the green list have low case rates, low positivity, good surveillance and low risk from variants of concern.

Network Rail: Debts

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the level of debt sustained by Network Rail.

Chris Heaton-Harris: As reported in their Annual Report and Accounts 2020, Network Rail has £54.6bn of historical debt, which is an increase on the previous year’s level (of £54.1bn) due to increases in the valuation of RPI-linked bonds. Network Rail have been restricted from raising any further commercial debt since they were reclassified to the public sector in 2014. Since the start of Railway Control Period 6 in April 2019, the Department has chosen to provide funding for operating, maintaining and enhancing the railway through grant rather than loan funding. The level of debt is therefore not expected to rise from its current level.

Leamside Railway Line

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the potential economic benefits to the (a) North East and (b) UK of opening the proposed Leamside South line.

Chris Heaton-Harris: I refer the hon. Member to the Answer given on 14 June 2021 to Question UIN 12112.

Railways: Repairs and Maintenance

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to his Department's support for the Rail Supply Group Work Pipeline Visibility Charter, if he will publish an updated Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP) list as soon as possible.

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, when he plans to publish an updated Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline (RNEP).

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, with reference to the Procurement Green Paper, if he will set out a clear pipeline of work for rail enhancement projects.

Chris Heaton-Harris: In line with our policy of providing transparency to the rail enhancements supply chain, we will publish an update to the Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline in the coming months.

Large Goods Vehicles: Solar Power

Sir Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of promoting the use of (a) copper indium gallium selenide technology and (b) other solar panels on commercial vehicles to provide a lightweight means of maintaining a charge in batteries used to power (i) tail lifts, (ii) refrigerated units and (iii) ancillaries; and if he will make a statement.

Rachel Maclean: No such assessment as yet been made. However, we are supporting vehicle manufacturers, technology companies and academia to put the UK at the forefront of the design, manufacture and use of zero emission vehicles. We will be providing nearly £500 million in R&D and capital support through Automotive Transformation Fund (ATF) over the next four years. This will help to secure the transformation of the automotive sector at pace by developing and embedding the next generation of cutting-edge automotive technologies in the UK. The Government welcomes any innovative thinking and technology that assist with our ambitions to support the transition to zero emission road transport. We have today announced the winners of a further £20m of grant funding for promising electric vehicle innovation. One of the projects that is being supported is a solar panel powered refrigeration unit.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Question

Ian Lavery: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will take steps with Cabinet colleagues to prevent the use of fire and rehire practices in the food production and processing sector.

Paul Scully: This Government has been clear that we expect employers to treat their employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership. Using threats about firing and rehiring as a negotiation tactic is unacceptable. We expect employers and employees to negotiate new terms and conditions and there are laws around how this must be done, and legal protections in place when firms are considering redundancies.We asked Acas to conduct an evidence-gathering exercise to improve our evidence base. We welcome Acas’ report on this work which was published on 8 June.The Acas report demonstrated that there are different views on whether the practice can ever be justified. For some of the organisations consulted by Acas, it is never acceptable. For others, in its most legitimate form ‘fire and rehire’ is a route for employers to avoid redundancies and business failures, after negotiations have been exhausted.I have asked Acas to produce better, more comprehensive, clearer guidance to help employers explore all the options before considering ‘fire and rehire’ and encourage good employment relations practice.

Personal Care Services: Coronavirus

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the efficacy of the evidential basis for guidance on frequently replacing newspapers and magazines in section 5.2 of his Department’s close contact services guidance entitled, Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19) for England at the same time as evidence for lifting legal covid-19 restrictions is reviewed.

Paul Scully: We continue to keep the guidance for working safely during COVID-19 in close contact services under constant review. Guidance will be updated in advance of step 4.

Personal Care Services: Coronavirus

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to review his Department's guidance for close contact services in England entitled Working safely during coronavirus (COVID-19), updated on 18 May 2021, that reading materials are replaced frequently; and whether that guidance will be updated when step 4 of the covid-19 roadmap is implemented.

Paul Scully: We continue to keep the guidance for working safely during COVID-19 in close contact services under constant review. Guidance will be updated in advance of step 4.

Pyramid Selling: Coronavirus

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the growth in recruitment for multi-level marketing brands since March 2020.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the recruitment practices of multi-level marketing brands during the covid-19 outbreak.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to protect people who have experienced financial hardship as a result of aggressive recruitment by multi-level marketing brands.

Paul Scully: It is a criminal offence to persuade someone to make a payment to a scheme by promising benefits from getting other people to join the same scheme (Fair Trading Act 1973 section 120(3)).Similarly, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (CPRs) prohibit unfair and aggressive marketing tactics towards consumers.If individuals believe there has been a breach of these Regulations, they should contact the Citizens Advice consumer service on 0808 223 1133, www.citizensadvice.org.uk/.

Certification Officer: Finance

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what estimate his Department has made of the annual budget for the Certification Officer for the financial year starting on 1 April 2022.

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the expected budget is for the Certification Officer for the financial year 2021-22.

Andy McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the budget was for the Certification Officer for the financial years beginning 1 April (a) 2017, (b) 2018, (c) 2019 and (d) 2020.

Paul Scully: The Certification Office cost: £883,370 in the year commencing 1 April 2017; £1,103,037 in the year commencing 1 April 2018; £1,097,132 in the year commencing 1 April 2019; and £1,079,812 in the year commencing 1 April 2020. The Certification Office budget for the year commencing 1 April 2021 has not yet formally been allocated. The Certification Office anticipates that the total cost of the office will be approximately £1,100,000. The Government’s latest estimate is that the office will cost approximately £1,150,000 in the year commencing 1 April 2022. This figure includes an adjustment to account for the costs associated with implementing the additional powers granted to the Certification Officer by the Trade Union Act 2016, which are due to come into force from April 2022.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the main supply chain constraints are on the expansion of covid-19 vaccine production in the UK.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Government has been monitoring the requirements across the COVID-19 vaccine supply chain from supplier through to patient for some time. There are clear supply chain plans in place for both the supply and onward deployment of all vaccine candidates. This includes materials, manufacturing, transport, storage and distribution. The Vaccines Taskforce has conducted supply chain risk assessments and is working with the vaccine suppliers to understand the optimal logistics and timings. We have successfully met our target of offering a first vaccine dose to every person within priority groups 1-9, three days before our 15 April target. Our target is to offer a first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to all adults aged 18 and over by 19 July, two weeks earlier than planned.

Mineworkers' Pension Scheme

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Report of Session 2019-21 of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee on the Mineworkers' Pension Scheme, published on 29 April 2021.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: I am grateful for the Committee’s report, and I am considering their recommendations. I am due to the meet the Scheme Trustees on 21 June, and I am keen to hear their views before responding to the Select Committee.

Hydrogen: Finance

Dr Alan Whitehead: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans his Department has to develop a Contract for Difference focused solely on green hydrogen.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: We will consult shortly on our preferred hydrogen business model, or models, for low carbon hydrogen aimed at supporting delivery of our 5GW hydrogen production capacity. Our business model will be designed to support a range of low carbon hydrogen production technologies, including electrolysis using renewable electricity and methane reformation with carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS).

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy: Freedom of Information

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Amanda Solloway: The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not operate such a rating system for Freedom of Information requests.

Northern Ireland Office

UK Trade with EU: Northern Ireland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many (a) Northern Ireland businesses have been adversely impacted by and (b) complaints the Government has received on the operation of the Northern Ireland Protocol since 1 January 2021.

Mr Robin Walker: I have engaged extensively in the build up to and since the Protocol was implemented at the start of this year, talking to businesses throughout Northern Ireland and across sectors. These experiences have also been set out to me in writing as correspondence and as reports for individuals businesses and business representative organisations. I have heard first-hand about the range of experiences under the Protocol as it is currently operating for people and businesses in Northern Ireland. Where concerns have been raised - for example about reduced choice of products from Great Britain, burdensome checks and processes on products for supermarkets, cancelled deliveries, increased costs, risks to the supply of generic medicines and the impact on investment and growth - these have shaped and guided the Government’s approach to Protocol implementation.

Northern Ireland Office: Freedom of Information

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Mr Robin Walker: The Northern Ireland Office do not use a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests.

Department of Health and Social Care

Joint Replacements

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to answer to question 5226, tabled on 21 May 2021, what data is mandatorily held by (a) health services and (b) his Department on the provision of joint replacement treatment.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department of Health and Social Care: Written Questions

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to answer Question 7785 tabled on  26 May 2021 by the hon. Member for Brighton, Pavilion; and what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the US Food and Drug Administration warning, issued on 10 June 2021, for the public to stop using the Innova test; if he will (a) specify how much money has been spent on Innova lateral flow tests to date and (b) estimate how much more will be spent on those tests under current contracts; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Independent Review

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 9 April 2021 to Question 3942 on Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Independent Review, what Government progress the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Review is monitoring as at 14 June 2021.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay of 4 March, 12 April and 12 May 2021 on the Catchupwithcancer campaign, reference JB31721.

Edward Argar: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his oral contribution of 7 June 2021, Official Report 685, what progress his Department has made towards publishing on a daily basis the number of patients in hospital with covid-19 who have previously had (a) one, (b) two and (c) no injections of vaccine; and if he will publish a similar analysis of the daily number of covid-19 fatalities.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

NHS: Overtime

Liz Twist: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the (a) amount of overtime worked and (b) cost of that overtime worked by NHS staff throughout the course of the covid-19 outbreak.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps should people take who have moved to the UK, and who have received one dose of a non-UK approved covid-19 vaccine, to complete their covid-19 vaccination.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Obesity

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure its Tackling Obesity Strategy does not promote crash diets.

Jo Churchill: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Mr David Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what reciprocal arrangements with the Welsh Government exist for the vaccination against covid-19 of Welsh residents temporarily living in England and English residents temporarily living in Wales.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Services: Migrant Workers

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the impact of the end of free movement on the availability of labour in the UK social care sector.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Department of Health and Social Care: Freedom of Information

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Edward Argar: The Department does not operate a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests. All requests for information are treated equally.

Integrated Care Systems

Stuart Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that integrated care systems are democratically accountable.

Edward Argar: Integrated care boards (ICBs) will be democratically accountable for National Health Service spend and outcomes via NHS England to the Government and ultimately to Parliament.   Both ICBs and integrated care partnerships (ICPs) will work to create a culture of ‘mutual accountability’ between partner organisations in healthcare, public health and social care, working closely with local government.

NHS Trusts: Buildings

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish for each hospital trust the amount of ring-fenced funding provided for 2021-22 for urgent Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete remediation.

Edward Argar: The Department’s capital settlement at Spending Review 2020 included £4.2 billion in 2021-22 to allow hospitals to maintain and refurbish their infrastructure, including a £110 million ringfenced allocation to address the most serious and immediate risks posed by Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete.NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to work with the affected trusts to deliver the programme of investment and will ensure that trusts make the full and best use of all available funding over this financial year. Official figures by trust will be published through our audited final set of accounts.

NHS 111

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 19 October 2020 to Question 99682 on NHS: 111, what proportion of the NHS 111 service across England is run by (a) private providers, (b) social enterprise and (c) NHS providers.

Edward Argar: In England NHS 111 services are run by 18 providers in total, of which eight are National Health Service providers, seven are social enterprise and three are private providers.

Travel: Coronavirus

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the two-day waiting time for a PCR test on arrival in the UK from green list countries.

Jo Churchill: The Department continually reviews the value of testing on or before day two following arrival in the United Kingdom.Testing on or before day two is designed to provide variant surveillance and infection identification, as the closer the test is taken to day two, the larger the proportion of potential infections identified.

Coronavirus: Screening

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will investigate reports of delayed PCR covid-19 tests from Latus Health.

Jo Churchill: Latus Health have been removed from the list of private providers for day two and eight testing hosted on GOV.UK.

Coronavirus: Screening

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 15 April 2021 on Question 181394, how many covid-19 rapid test kits have been taken up by early years staff in (a) schools-based nursery schools, (b) maintained nursery schools, (c) private, (d) voluntary and (e) independent nurseries and (f) household, childcare and support bubbles of staff and children in early year settings.

Jo Churchill: The information is not held in the format requested.

Coronavirus: Screening

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure adequate provision of covid-19 testing by private providers.

Jo Churchill: The Government is committed to working with the travel industry and private testing providers to reduce the cost of travel testing. Private providers of travel tests must meet the minimum standards for COVID-19 testing services and those processing tests or taking swabs must also be at the relevant stage of United Kingdom Accreditation Service accreditation. These providers are listed on GOV.UK. The Department monitors all providers’ performance.To ensure there is adequate provision, the Government has also made NHS Test and Trace testing available at the market mid-point to ensure tests are available at an appropriate cost.

Coronavirus: Screening

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the documents setting out the basis for the authorisation by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) for the exceptional use of lateral flow tests on the government website; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the (a) detailed performance surveillance plan for monthly reports which he was required to submit to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency under paragraph 17 of the exceptional use authorisation for the Innova lateral flow test that was issued to him on 22 December 2020 by the Agency, Medicines & Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, (b) monthly reports and (c) bi-weekly reports detailing a summary of adverse incidents, the number of devices supplied and to whom, as required under paragraph 10 of the authorisation.

Jo Churchill: The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost. We plan to publish a summary of the evidence that underpins the use of lateral flow devices and our submission to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency later in the year.

Department of Health and Social Care: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment they have made of the potential (a) threats and (b) opportunities of artificial intelligence in respect of their Department’s responsibilities.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We are aware of the potential for artificial intelligence to make a significant difference to the way health and social care is delivered in the United Kingdom. The National Health Service artificial intelligence (AI) Laboratory was created to ensure only safe and ethical AI is deployed in the UK and is leading a number of initiatives including working with regulatory bodies to develop fit for purpose regulations and providing funding for evidence generation through the £140 million AI in Health and Care Award.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 26 May 2021 to Question 3861 on Medical Records: Data Protection, in what format that information is held; and whether his Department holds information on the registered addresses of the organisations with which it shares NHS Digital data sets for the purposes of research and planning.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The format of the data dissemination is dependent on the requirements of each data sharing agreement, the data set requested and the minimisation applied. The registered address for each organisation is held and contractual Data Sharing Framework and Data Sharing Agreements are maintained with legally binding terms and conditions.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits  of allowing people who received a now-approved covid-19 vaccine as part of the trials to prove their vaccination status on the NHS app.

Nadhim Zahawi: Since 17 May, individuals in England can demonstrate their COVID-19 vaccination status for the purposes of outbound travel via the NHS App, the NHS website or by requesting a letter through 119. The Government is working on an upgrade to the App to allow residents in England who have taken part or are participating in a clinical trial to demonstrate their COVID-19 vaccine status.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the resources that (a) GPs and (b) other bodies will require to deliver a booster vaccination programme against covid-19 in the autumn of 2021; and if he will make a statement.

Nadhim Zahawi: The Department and NHS England are working closely with regional and local systems to ensure we have the appropriate resourcing available for a potential booster campaign. Whilst we are planning for several potential scenarios, final decisions on the timing and scope of the booster programme will not be taken until later this year, in line with results from key clinical studies and advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Stella Creasy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 27 May 2021 to Question 1312 on Coronavirus: Vaccination, what information has NHS England provided to the local authority Director of Public Health on the number of (a) covid-19 vaccinations that have been administered and (b) people eligible for those vaccinations, by ethnicity, for each of the wards in Waltham Forest where that information is available for the last five months.

Nadhim Zahawi: From 15 January to 23 April, Public Health England (PHE) facilitated access for Directors of Public Health to local level data provided by NHS England and NHS Improvement via its secure platform. Since 23 April 2021, these data have been provided directly by PHE. PHE provides daily COVID-19 vaccine data to Directors of Public Health in England, including for Waltham Forest. These data include breakdowns to lower super output area (LSOA) level by age, sex and ethnicity. LSOA data can be aggregated to ward level.

Mental Health Services: Hospital Beds

Dr Rosena Allin-Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to Answer of 7 June 2021 to Question 3088 on Mental Health Services: Hospital Beds, how many mental health beds there were in each financial year from (a) 2010 to (b) 2021.

Ms Nadine Dorries: NHS England and NHS Improvement hold information on mental health beds classified as consultant-led only, which is shown in the following table. YearConsultant-led mental health beds2010/1123,4472011/1223,1492012/1322,3962013/1421,9502014/1521,5472015/1619,0452016/1718,7312017/1818,2952018/1918,3662019/2018,1712020/2117,610 Source: KH03 data collection, NHS England and NHS ImprovementNote:The figures are averages across the year, calculated as weighted averages from the four quarters.Since 2009/10, many trusts have started classifying some mental illness beds as non-consultant-led. Information on these beds is not collected centrally.

Mental Health Services: Motor Vehicles

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of mental health vehicles used in an emergency.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The NHS Long Term Plan includes ambitions to introduce mental health transport vehicles, introduce mental health nurses in ambulance control rooms and build mental health competency of ambulance staff to ensure that ambulance staff are trained and equipped to respond effectively to people experiencing a mental health crisis. Future capital investment will be a matter for the forthcoming Spending Review.

DNACPR Decisions: Learning Disability

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the extent of the use of do not resuscitate orders for people with learning disabilities during the second wave of the covid-19 outbreak; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many deaths of people with do not resuscitate orders have been attributed to covid-19 as the cause of death in the last 12 months.

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people diagnosed with learning disorders who died of covid-19 in the last 12 months had do not resuscitate orders.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department is clear that learning disability should never be a reason for a Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decision and that blanket DNACPR decisions for whole groups of people are completely inappropriate.The Department does not hold data centrally on the numbers or basis for DNACPR decisions. In October 2020, the Department asked the Care Quality Commission to review how DNACPR decisions were made during the COVID-19 pandemic, including for people with a learning disability. The report, published on the 18 March, looked at how DNACPR decisions were made in the earlier stages of the pandemic. The 2020/21 General Medical Services contract Quality and Outcomes Framework now includes a requirement for all DNACPR decisions for people with a learning disability to be reviewed. The fifth annual report of the Learning Disabilities Mortality Review programme published on 10 June 2021, reported that in 2020, of the people with a learning disability who were reported as dying from COVID-19, 81% had a DNACPR decision.

Mental Health Services

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of move-on capacity for patients with mental health issues who need support to continue to make progress with their recovery after a period of intensive hospital support; if he will make it his policy to increase that capacity; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We have not made a formal assessment. We recognise that additional support is required to help people with mental health issues and who are well enough to leave hospital and recover in the community. In November 2020, we published our Wellbeing and Mental Health Support Plan for COVID-19, with £50 million to boost capacity and support good quality discharge from mental health inpatient settings, help reduce pressures on inpatient beds and keep patients safe during the winter months.In March 2021, the Department published the COVID-19 Mental Health Recovery Action Plan which set out an additional £87 million in 2021/22 to provide additional support for mental health patients leaving hospital, such as a temporary place to live or care in their homes.

Mental Health Services

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will hold discussions with mental health trust leaders on the effect of moving from an annual settlement to a system of awarding three year plans on the ability of trusts to (a) plan ahead and (b) recruit and train staff to address service gaps; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Under the NHS Long Term Plan, the National Health Service has a financial settlement in place for the five years to 2023/24, alongside a mental health investment standard. The NHS has set out a implementation plan for the expansion and transformation of mental health services, which provides greater certainty to commissioners and providers to make plans to deliver substantial service improvements and expand their workforce by 2023/24. The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement continue to engage with mental health trust leaders as this work progresses.

NHS: Environment Protection

Yvonne Fovargue: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans are in place to focus on the contribution of positive patient outcomes to the healthcare carbon savings within the delivery plan of Greener NHS Strategy.

Edward Argar: The National Health Service committed to achieving net zero for both direct and indirect emissions. ‘Delivering a ‘Net Zero’ National Health Service’, published in October 2020, sets out how more sustainable models of care can not only improve patient outcomes, patient experience and care quality but also reduce carbon emissions.

Brain: Tumours

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish details of additional funding that has been allocated by the Government to support brain tumour (a) research and (b) treatment following the outbreak of covid-19.

Jo Churchill: No specific funding has been allocated by the Government to support brain tumour research following the outbreak of COVID-19.The Government has provided an additional £3 billion to support the National Health Service’s recovery from the impact of COVID-19, including treatment for cancer.

Travel: Quarantine

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps are being taken to ensure adequate provision of appropriate food during mandatory covid-19 hotel quarantine for people with strict dietary requirements; and what processes are in place to determine the appropriateness and adequacy of food for those people.

Jo Churchill: It is specified at the induction stage for managed quarantine hotels that the catering requirements must include the delivery of menus to rooms and an understanding of individual needs for each meal; a variety of meals to meet nutritional, dietary, religious, and cultural needs; and the ability for guests to order additional food and beverage from a 24-hour room service menu.A review is carried out with hotels at two and 21 days following the induction process. Each hotel has a liaison officer available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to escalate any issues, in addition to the hotel’s own customer service channels.

Coronavirus: Budesonide

Sir Graham Brady: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the efficacy of inhaled budesonide in reducing (a) admissions to hospital with covid-19 and (b) the progression of covid-19 from a mild to severe disease.

Jo Churchill: Inhaled budesonide was trialled as part of the PRINCIPLE trial platform in the United Kingdom as a treatment for COVID-19 in non-hospitalised patients who are 65 years old and over or 50 years old and over with an underlying health condition. On 12 April, interim analysis from the PRINCIPLE trial revealed that inhaled budesonide reduced the time to self-reported recovery by a median of three days. However, the full analysis is currently underway to understand the full benefit of this treatment. Clinical guidance has been issued for clinicians to consider prescribing inhaled budesonide on a case-by-case basis, but inhaled budesonide is not currently recommended as the standard of care in the UK. The Department will continue to monitor the results as more detailed data and analysis from the trial becomes available and stand ready to adjust guidance should this be appropriate.

Travel: Quarantine

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what processes are in place to tackle complaints of people in covid-19 hotel quarantine in respect of (a) dietary requirements, (b) living conditions and (c) the unresponsiveness of hotel staff.

Jo Churchill: In the first instance, guests should raise any concerns directly with hotel or security staff, who can address practical issues about the hotel room and services. Hotel staff can also escalate concerns if necessary. Where the hotel is unable to resolve the complaint, Corporate Travel Management (CTM), who hold the hotel contracts, will raise issues with the hotel manager. Complaints are investigated by the hotel and processes changed if so required. If necessary, CTM will require the hotel to make improvements within a given time period.

Travel: Quarantine

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether people who are required to quarantine after travel are permitted to attend a covid-19 vaccination centre during their quarantine period under the exceptional circumstances provision; and if he will publish updated guidance on that matter on the NHS vaccination booking website.

Jo Churchill: People who are required to quarantine after travelling to the United Kingdom will only be allowed to leave their room under exceptional circumstances – for example to seek medical assistance where this is required urgently. As vaccination appointments may be booked in advance, these should be arranged after the 10-day quarantine period wherever possible. We will amend our guidance to reflect this.

Coronavirus

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, on what date he first became aware that the Delta variant of covid-19 was present in the UK.

Jo Churchill: Ministers were informed of the Delta COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom on 28 April 2021, when it was designated as a variant under investigation.

Travel: Quarantine

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many covid-19 hotel quarantine exemption requests have been approved to date.

Jo Churchill: Since February 2021, approximately 60 people have been granted exemptions from COVID-19 managed quarantine facilities on medical grounds.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions Ministers in his Department have had with (a) local authority leaders and (b) public health directors on the guidance issued by his Department stating that people should not to travel into and out of (i) Kirklees, (ii) Bedford, (iii) Burnley, (iv) Leicester, (v) Hounslow, (vi) North Tyneside, (vii) Bolton and (viii) Blackburn with Darwen.

Jo Churchill: The Government has been in constant contact with local authority leaders and directors of public health to support local Covid-19 outbreak management in these areas.The Department engages routinely with Local Authorities through our Regional Partnership teams, who have daily and weekly meetings with local authorities. The Director of Strategy & Engagement for Contain and their team meets with Local Authority Chief Executives, Directors of Public Health, the Local Government Association and Society of Local Authority Chief Executives fortnightly to discuss policy development.On 25 May 2021, officials met the 8 Local Authorities concerned about the travel guidance. Since then we have engaged continuously with local health leads on the risks posed by new variants. We have deployed local communications to the affected areas to alert the public to advice. We worked at pace last week, recognising the risks posed by the increased case rates of the new variant in some parts of the country. As a result, we recognise that the communications were not as clear as they could have been. We will be discussing with local authority colleagues this week to make sure that everyone is clear what the expectations are and how we can improve communications going forward.

Coronavirus: Ethnic Groups

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what (a) assessment he has made of the additional risk of the covid-19 virus to South Asian communities and (b) additional support will be provided to improve South Asian communities access to vaccines and health care.

Jo Churchill: Across the pandemic period to date, the cumulative mortality and hospital admission rates were highest in the Black and Asian groups. Among the Black and Asian groups, the Other Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani groups had the highest rates. The hospital admission rate for the Black and Asian groups was three times higher than the rate for the White group. The mortality rate for the Black and Asian group was two times higher than the White group.These differences are reduced when looking at survival following infection. In the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in England, after adjusting for pre-existing conditions, age, sex, region and deprivation, the Bangladeshi ethnic group had the poorest survival and had 1.88 times the odds of dying once infected when compared with the White ethnic group. The Pakistani, Chinese, and Black Other ethnic groups had 1.35 to 1.45 times the odds of dying once infected and the Indian group 1.16.Clear, informative communications explain how, at any possible opportunity, to access the vaccine. Our communications include information and advice via television, radio and social media and have been translated into 13 languages, including Bengali, Chinese, Filipino, Gujarati, Hindi, Mirpur, Punjabi and Urdu. Temporary vaccination sites are in place at targeting areas with low vaccine uptake within inclusion groups and ethnic minorities.The Government has provided up to £23.75m to local authorities and the voluntary and community sector to improve the reach of official public health guidance and other messaging or communications about the virus into specific places and groups most at risk from COVID-19.

Dental Services: Yorkshire and the Humber

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department plans to take to undertake (a) workforce planning for dental services and (b) commissioning of dental surgery places in (i) Yorkshire and (ii) York; and what reference his Department plans to make to data on access to dental care in those locations when undertaking that planning and commissioning.

Jo Churchill: Work is ongoing with the dental profession to develop the necessary skills and staff to increase capacity. A report from Health Education England is expected in the autumn which will set out recommendations on the education and training infrastructure needed to supply a high-quality dental workforce with the right skills in the right place to deliver timely, prevention-oriented oral healthcare.The Department has asked NHS England and NHS Improvement to work with the British Dental Association, to build on the learning from the dental contract reform programme and bring forward implementable proposals to improve the contract. In Yorkshire and the Humber, NHS England and NHS Improvement are currently evaluating access activity to consider the most effective way to support practices and are committed to ensuring that local data is used to drive commissioning plans for 2021/22.

Travel: Quarantine

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment and provision has been made to ensure that travellers from red list countries who are staying in quarantine hotels are provided with meals which are appropriate to their religious or ethical beliefs.

Jo Churchill: It is specified at the induction stage for managed quarantine hotels that the catering requirements must include delivery of menus to rooms and an understanding of individual needs for each meal; a variety of meals to meet nutritional, dietary, religious, and cultural needs; and the ability for guests to order additional food and beverage from a 24-hour room service menu.Following the induction process, reviews are carried out with the hotels after two and 21 days. Every hotel has a 24 hours a day, seven days a week liaison officer to escalate any issues, in addition to their own customer service channels.

Coronavirus: Disease Control

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has undertaken to assess which aspects of local restrictions imposed in 2020 to prevent the spread of covid-19 proved effective.

Jo Churchill: The Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies considered the impact of tiers in England and interventions in the devolved administrations in November 2020. A summary of this analysis is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/impact-of-interventions-tfg-the-uks-4-nations-autumn-interventions-update-26-november-2020

Travel: Quarantine

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that people in covid-19 hotel quarantine (a) have adequately clean rooms throughout their 10 day stay and (b) are given the privacy they need during their stay.

Jo Churchill: Due to potential COVID-19 infection risks, the cleaning of rooms is not undertaken by hotel staff in managed quarantine facilities while they are occupied. Guests are provided with suitable disposable cleaning products and equipment to clean their rooms. Fresh linen and towels are left outside of the room door every third day.Hotel staff and security do not enter the guest rooms, therefore ensuring privacy throughout the stay.

Coronavirus: Industrial Health and Safety

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on whether businesses are planned to be required to ensure compliance on health and safety grounds for their employees with (a) social distancing and (b) face-covering requirements after 21 June 2021.

Jo Churchill: Ministers and officials across Government have regular discussions about the future direction of social distancing policy. These discussions include consideration of whether businesses may be required to ensure employees comply with social distancing and face covering requirements on health and safety grounds.

Brain: Tumours

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the National Institute for Health Research provides feedback to applicants when it rejects a brain tumour research grant application.

Edward Argar: Feedback is provided to all applicants, shortlisted or rejected, at key decision points in the process. An initial assessment determines whether applications are within the remit and are competitive for a particular programme. If unsuccessful at this point, feedback will be provided and the application can be resubmitted at any time Stage one applications receive feedback following discussion by the programme’s committee. All applications, whether shortlisted for stage two submission, invited for resubmission at stage one or rejected from the programme, receive feedback. At stage two, comments from external peer reviewers are given to applicants, who are asked to submit their responses. The applications are then reviewed by the Funding Committee. Applicants receive feedback from the Committee if they are rejected.We are working with the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission towards funding workshops for previously unsuccessful researchers to support them in submitting higher quality research applications.

Food: Allergies

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential merits of requiring restaurants to make reasonable adjustments to their food when a customer discloses that they have a serious allergy.

Jo Churchill: All food businesses are under a legal obligation to provide information on the presence of the 14 major allergens in food and this information can be provided in a variety of ways. Where a customer declares an allergy, the business should adjust their offering or indicate where this would not be possible so that the customer is able to make a safe and informed choice.

Medicine: Research

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase the NHS's capacity to conduct medical research; and whether those plans will include efforts to increase NHS staff's access to dedicated research time.

Edward Argar: On 23 March 2021, the Government published its vision for the future of United Kingdom clinical research delivery. This vision aims to create a research positive culture across the National Health Service and all health and care settings, where all staff feel empowered and supported to participate in clinical research delivery as part of their job, offering rewarding opportunities for all healthcare staff and exciting careers for those from all professional backgrounds who lead research. An implementation plan and strategy setting out how we will deliver the vision in 2021/22 will be published later this year.

Coronavirus: Diagnosis and Medical Treatments

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to publish a strategy on the diagnosis and treatment of long covid.

Jo Churchill: Discussions are continuing regarding the best way to diagnose, support and treat patients with ‘long’ COVID-19. As our knowledge improves, we will continue to adapt our response to meet the needs of patients which may include the publication of a strategy. We will provide an update in due course.

Mucormycosis

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the risk of covid-19 patients in the UK developing mucormycosis.

Jo Churchill: There has been a very low incidence of mucormycosis secondary to COVID-19 infections in the United Kingdom. Across 2020 and 2021, there have been 66 incidences of invasive fungal infection, of which only four incidences have been associated with COVID-19.

Dental Services: Coronavirus

Stephen Morgan: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of Healthwatch's Dentistry during covid-19 insight briefing; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: During the pandemic, capacity has been restricted to protect both dental teams and patients, resulting in a reduction in access to National Health Service dentistry, as demonstrated by recent findings from Healthwatch. NHS dentists throughout the country have been asked to maximise safe throughput to meet as many prioritised needs as possible, focussing first on urgent care and vulnerable groups followed by overdue appointments. This has been underpinned, taking into account current infection prevention and control guidelines, by the requirement for dental providers to deliver 60% of normal activity volumes for the first six months of 2021/22 for full payment of the NHS contractual value. For the longer term, the Department has asked NHS England and NHS Improvement to work with the BDA, to build on the learning from the dental contract reform programme to bring forward implementable proposals, that address the key challenges facing the delivery of NHS dentistry and improve patient access.

DNACPR Decisions

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Do Not Attempt Resuscitation decisions made since 17 March 2020 which had not been agreed in discussion with the person, their relative or carer remain in place.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The Department asked the Care Quality Commission to review how Do Not Attempt Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (DNACPR) decisions were made during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their report found 508 instances where a DNACPR had been put on a patient’s record that had not been agreed by the person or their families/carers. However, the report did not find evidence that inappropriate or ‘blanket’ application of DNACPR decisions was widespread.The Department does not record or monitor DNACPRs in place but has established a Ministerial Oversight Group to monitor their use and adherence to guidance.

Coronavirus: Ventilation

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he revised his estimation of the significance of ventilation in reducing the rate of covid-19 transmission over the course of the covid-19 outbreak.

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of improving ventilation in mitigating the risk of covid-19 infection compared to hand washing, social distancing and surface sanitisation.

Jo Churchill: In line with evidence from the World Health Organisation and the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE), Public Health England (PHE) has revised their estimation of the significance of ventilation in reducing the rate of COVID-19 transmission over the course of the pandemic. This is included as part of PHE’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) recommendations guidance. The guidance is available at the following link:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/954690/Infection_Prevention_and_Control_Guidance_January_2021.pdf No assessment has been made specifically of the effectiveness of improving ventilation in mitigating the risk of COVID-19 infection compared to hand washing, social distancing and surface sanitisation. The IPC guidance advises that, if indoors, to ensure rooms have plenty of fresh air by keeping windows and doors open. The guidance also advises using signs and posters to build awareness of good handwashing technique, the need to increase handwashing frequency and to avoid touching your face, and to cough or sneeze into a tissue which is disposed of safely - or into your arm if a tissue is not available.

Carers: Health Services

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) assess and (b) meet the health needs of carers.

Helen Whately: The Government recognises the vital role all unpaid and paid carers play and that the health of some carers may have been affected as a result of their caring role. We are committed to supporting carers in a way that maintains their own health and wellbeing.During the pandemic, the Government has provided carers with guidance which includes advice on their health and wellbeing and over £11.6 million to a number of charities to support carers including funding to Carers UK to extend their support phoneline. We have worked with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to publish guidance on reopening day services to provide important respite to carers. In addition, we have also allocated funding through the £1.8 billion Infection Control Fund to support the reopening of day and respite services.The Care Act 2014 introduced important rights for carers, including an assessment of and support for, their needs where eligible. These includes a duty to promote an individual’s ‘wellbeing’ and consider the impact of the role as a carer on their wellbeing.

Coronavirus: Contact Tracing

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what guidance the Government has provided to businesses to ensure effective data protection in the collection of customer information and data for covid-19 contact tracing purposes.

Jo Churchill: The collection of customer, visitor and staff information became a legal requirement for designated venues on 18 September 2020. The Government’s guidance to support these organisations to maintain records of staff, customers and visitors is available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/maintaining-records-of-staff-customers-and-visitors-to-support-nhs-test-and-trace In addition, the Information Commissioner’s Office has produced guidance on collecting, storing, sharing and deleting the personal data venues have been asked to obtain. This is available at the following link: https://ico.org.uk/global/data-protection-and-coronavirus-information-hub/coronavirus-recovery-data-protection-advice-for-organisations/maintaining-records-of-staff-customers-and-visitors-for-contact-tracing-purposes/#cs3 We also regularly engage with the sectors in scope of the regulations to explain the actions required, including how to ensure effective data protection.

Carers: Health

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve the well-being of carers.

Helen Whately: The Government recognises the vital role all unpaid and paid carers play and that the health of some carers may have been affected as a result of their caring role. We are committed to supporting carers in a way that maintains their own health and wellbeing.During the pandemic, the Government has provided carers with guidance which includes advice on their health and wellbeing and provided over £11.6 million to a number of charities to support carers, including funding to Carers UK to extend their support phoneline. We have worked with the Social Care Institute for Excellence to publish guidance on reopening day services to provide important respite to carers. In addition, we have also allocated funding through the £1.8 billion Infection Control Fund to support the reopening of day and respite services.The Care Act 2014 introduced important rights for carers, including an assessment of and support for, their needs where eligible. These includes a duty to promote an individual’s ‘wellbeing’ and consider the impact of the role as a carer on their wellbeing.

Travel: Coronavirus

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the public health advice on which the latest review of the Government’s foreign travel covid-19 traffic light system was based.

Jo Churchill: Decisions to designate countries as either ‘red’, ‘amber’ or ‘green’ on the ‘traffic light’ system are taken by the Government to protect public health. They are informed by evidence including the Joint Biosecurity Centre’s risks assessments alongside wider public health factors. We are unable to provide the advice, evidence and methodology which informs these decisions as it relates to the on-going development of Government policy. However, further information on the data informing international travel risk assessments is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-informing-international-travel-traffic-light-risk-assessments

Travel: Coronavirus

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish the public health advice on which the decision not to place Malta on the green list in the Government’s latest review of its covid-19 traffic light system.

Jo Churchill: Decisions to designate countries, such as Malta, as either ‘red’, ‘amber’ or ‘green’ on the ‘traffic light’ system are taken by the Government to protect public health. They are informed by evidence including the Joint Biosecurity Centre’s risks assessments alongside wider public health factors. We are unable to provide the advice, evidence and methodology which informs these decisions as it relates to the on-going development of Government policy. However, further information on the data informing international travel risk assessments is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-informing-international-travel-traffic-light-risk-assessments

Travel: Coronavirus

Mr Ben Bradshaw: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will he publish the public health advice on which the decision to move Portugal from the green to the orange list in the Government’s latest review of its covid-19 traffic light system.

Jo Churchill: Decisions to designate countries, such as Portugal, as either ‘red’, ‘amber’ or ‘green’ on the ‘traffic light’ system are taken by the Government to protect public health. They are informed by evidence including the Joint Biosecurity Centre’s risks assessments alongside wider public health factors.We are unable to provide the advice, evidence and methodology which informs these decisions as it relates to the on-going development of Government policy. However, further information on the data informing international travel risk assessments is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-informing-international-travel-traffic-light-risk-assessments

Social Services: Standards

Grahame Morris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will introduce a social care standard to ensure that service users are given (a) a named carer and (b) an approximate time for each social care appointment.

Helen Whately: The Care Act 2014 sets out a duty for local authorities to consider the quality of services. Local authorities must be mindful of the capacity, capability, timeliness, continuity, reliability and flexibility of services delivered in order to support the wellbeing of a person. The Care Act 2014 also allows people to receive personal budgets enabling them to plan their own care and support and exercise control over how it is provided including directly employing a personal assistant at a time to suit them.The Care Quality Commission monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards. They also set clear expectations of what a good service looks like. For home care providers, this includes introducing people to the staff who will provide them with care and being told if the person due to provide the care changes at short notice.

Pregnancy: Alcoholic Drinks

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to ensure that (a) advice to expectant mothers on alcohol consumption in pregnancy is clear and consistent and (b) all pregnant women are given information on the dangers of fetal alcohol syndrome.

Jo Churchill: The United Kingdom Chief Medical Officers’ low risk drinking guidelines published in 2016 provide clear advice to women not to drink alcohol if they are planning for a pregnancy or are pregnant. Public Health England, NHS England and NHS Improvement and local commissioners continue to raise awareness and provide education on the dangers of drinking alcohol while pregnant. Midwives and health visitors have a central role in providing clear, consistent advice and early identification and support.The Government is funding five voluntary organisations as part of the Children of Alcohol Dependent Parents programme to support grassroots initiatives to prevent cases of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and help improve support for those living with its consequences.

Dementia: Coronavirus

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made on the effect of covid-19 restrictions on those living with dementia.

Helen Whately: No formal assessment has been made. However, we continue to work with stakeholders and health and care system partners to support people with dementia and their carers, including NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance on the adjustments needed across the Dementia Well Pathway to ensure people continue to be diagnosed and can access care and support.We have also commissioned research through the National Institute for Health Research on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on people with dementia and their carers living in the community. This includes help to manage the psychological and social impacts of social distancing, self-isolation and lockdown. Leaflets were produced for people with dementia and their carers and are available at the following link:http://www.idealproject.org.uk/covid/

Dementia: Health Services

Gill Furniss: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to improve healthcare services for those living with dementia.

Helen Whately: Personalised care and support planning is supported by ‘Dementia: Good Care Planning – information for primary care and commissioners’ which sets out the development of care and support planning following an initial holistic assessment of a person’s health and well-being needs within the context of their whole life and family situation. This process recognises the person’s skills and strengths as well as their experiences and the things that matter most to them. The guide is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/publication/dementia-good-care-planning-information-for-primary-care-and-commissioners/We continue to work with stakeholders and health and care system partners to support people with dementia and their carers, including work by NHS England and NHS Improvement’s guidance on the adjustments needed across the Dementia Well Pathway during the pandemic to ensure people continue to be diagnosed and can access care and support. In addition, we have made £17 million available to NHS England and NHS Improvement to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses.

Carers: Coronavirus

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the covid-19 outbreak on unpaid carers in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry and (c) England; and what (i) financial and (ii) other steps he is taking to support unpaid carers during the outbreak.

Helen Whately: No specific assessment has been made on the impact on carers in Coventry North East constituency or Coventry.The Care Act 2014 introduced important rights for carers, including an assessment of and support for their needs where eligible from their local authority. The Government has provided £1.35 billion for the Infection Control Fund, which has been used towards safely reopening day centres, to provide support to carers and those they care for.We have also provided over £11.6 million to a number of charities which support carers and young carers, issued guidance tailored to carers, access to personal protective equipment for some carers and prioritisation for vaccination. We have also made exemptions to restrictions so that another family member or friend can provide respite care.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to tackle the time taken to diagnose and treat (a) Crohn's disease, (b) ulcerative colitis and (c) irritable bowel syndrome.

Helen Whately: NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with front-line clinical experts, patient representative groups and leading charities, to develop evidence-based tools to help improve care for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. This work includes a new IBD RightCare scenario, which will set out high-quality joined-up care at every point of the patient journey, including diagnosis. In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have produced IBD data packs for local commissioners. These packs present data from different parts of the care pathway to help local systems identify the factors driving variations in treatment, as well as narrative on how outcomes can be optimised.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the report entitled Crohn’s and Colitis Care in the UK published by IBD UK on 27 April 2021, what steps the Government is taking to help ensure that there is more timely diagnosis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

Helen Whately: NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with front-line clinical experts, patient representative groups and leading charities, including Crohn’s and Colitis UK, to develop evidence-based improvement tools to help improve inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care, including diagnosis times. This work includes a new IBD RightCare scenario, which will set out high-quality joined-up care at every point of the patient journey.In addition, NHS England and NHS Improvement have provided IBD data packs for local commissioners. These data packs present data from different parts of the care pathway to help local systems identify the factors driving unwarranted variations in treatment, as well as narrative on how outcomes can be optimised.

Health Services: Autism and Learning Disability

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve (a) community and (b) inpatient care for people with learning disabilities and autism in response to the Winterbourne View scandal.

Helen Whately: ‘Building the right support’, published in October 2015, is the national plan to improve care, reduce avoidable admissions and provide support in the community for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The ‘Building the right support’ Delivery Board has been established to drive and monitor progress and can commission any work considered necessary to ensure the target is met.The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is leading a new programme of work to transform the way they regulate services for people with a learning disability and autistic people. The CQC set out their expectations for providers in ‘Right support, right care, right culture’, as well as in their updated guidance, which gives inspectors further support to identify warning signs of a closed culture in services. This supports improvements in the quality of care provided to people with a learning disability and autistic people.

Children: Disability

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding of the report entitled The case for a Disabled Children’s Fund, published by the Disabled Children's Partnership in July 2018, on the funding gap in disabled children’s health and care services; and what estimate he has made of the difference in funding available for those services (a) before and (b) since the start of the covid-19 outbreak.

Helen Whately: We have made no specific assessment nor such an estimate. However, as part of COVID-19 recovery planning we are working with the Department for Education and NHS England and NHS Improvement to improve the provision of health and care services to disabled children. We have provided over £6 billion in un-ringfenced funding directly to councils to support them with the immediate and longer-term impacts of COVID-19 spending pressures, including for children’s social care. Since 2019-2020, the Government has provided additional funding for adults’ and children’s social care via the social care grant and is allocated £1.7 billion in 2021-2022.

Social Services

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the number of people who have unmet care needs in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what steps his Department is taking to ensure those care needs are met.

Helen Whately: We have not made a recent assessment. Local authorities are responsible for assessing individual’s eligibility for care and support as set out in the Care Act 2014 and where the individual is eligible for financial support, for meeting those needs. Where individuals are not eligible for financial support, local authorities may support individuals to make arrangements for care.

Hospices: Finance

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the Answer of 29 April 2021 to Question 179430 on Hospices: Finance, what recent assessment he has made of the financial sustainability of hospices; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Whately: Whilst the Department has not conducted a national assessment of hospice sustainability, we recognise the funding challenges facing the sector as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We and have worked with HM Treasury and NHS England and NHS Improvement to maintain hospice provision.NHS England and NHS Improvement have also funded Hospice UK to explore sustainable approaches to future care delivery. The Hospice UK ‘Future Vision Programme - Discovery Phase’ report sets out a range of options for hospices to consider in exploring future sustainability, acknowledging that as most hospices are independent, charitable organisations their circumstances will differ. The report is available at the following link:https://www.hospiceuk.org/docs/default-source/hospice-iq-documents-and-files/hospice-uk-future-vision-programme---discovery-phase---final-report-ts-amends---20200912-(5).pdf?sfvrsn=2Palliative and end of life care services are commissioned locally by clinical commissioning groups in response to the needs of their local population. This includes an understanding of the sustainability of available services.

Palliative Care

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the value to the public purse of palliative care services provided by independent hospices.

Helen Whately: The hospice sector has played a vital role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic which is reflected by the provision of up to £280 million of additional funding from March 2020 to March 2021.Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations that receive some statutory funding, mainly from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for providing local services. CCGs are responsible for the planning and commissioning of high-quality, cost-effective services that meet the needs of their local population.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) improve the quality of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) healthcare and (b) reduce diagnosis times for people with IBD.

Helen Whately: NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with front-line clinical experts, patient representative groups and leading charities to develop evidence-based improvement tools to help improve inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care, including reducing diagnosis times. This work includes a new IBD RightCare scenario, which will set out high-quality joined-up care at every point of the patient journey, as well as IBD data packs for local commissioners. These packs present data from different parts of the care pathway to help local systems identify the factors driving unwarranted variations in treatment, as well as narrative on how outcomes can be optimised.

Hospices: Finance

Barbara Keeley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on funding for independent hospices.

Helen Whately: While there have been no specific discussions, the Government recognises the important role that the hospice sector played in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic which is reflected by the provision of up to £280 million of additional funding from March 2020 to March 2021. Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations that receive some statutory funding, mainly from clinical commissioning groups, for providing local services.

NHS: Staff

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to (a) commission and (b) fund a long-term workforce strategy for the NHS that aligns with each of the priorities of the NHS Long Term Plan, including the expansion of mental health services.

Helen Whately: We are working with NHS England and NHS Improvement, Health Education England and systems and employers to determine our longer term workforce and people priorities to support the delivery of the NHS Long Term Plan. We remain committed to increasing the mental health workforce to achieve the ambitions set out in the Long Term Plan. An extra £500 million has been invested in mental health services for 2021/22, £111 million of which has been committed to support growth the mental health workforce.

Palliative Care

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the (a) projected future demand for clinical palliative care services and (b) funding implications of that matter.

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of current levels of statutory funding for palliative care services provided by independent hospices in meeting projected future demand for those services.

Helen Whately: The Government recognises the importance of palliative and end of life care services, including hospices. The hospice sector has played a vital role in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic and received up to £280 million of additional funding from March 2020 to March 2021.The Department and NHS England and NHS Improvement proactively engage with the whole sector to understand the issues they face. Most hospices are independent, charitable organisations that receive some statutory funding, mainly from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) for providing local services. CCGs will have an understanding of future demand and associated funding requirements. There are seven regional Palliative and End of Life Care Strategic Clinical Networks working closely with CCGs and integrated care systems to understand the needs, sustainability and future commissioning of palliative and end of life care services.

Health Professions: Recruitment

Justin Madders: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to increase the numbers of (a) anaesthetists, (b) surgeons and (c) surgical care practitioners.

Helen Whately: The Government has increased the number of medical school places in England by 1,500, alongside opening five new medical schools across England. By increasing the supply of doctors, this will ensure a larger potential pipeline for anaesthetists and surgeons in coming years in the National Health Service. Since 2010, the number of doctors working in the surgical group of specialties has increased by over 25% and the number of anaesthetists has increased by over 26%.Surgical care practitioners (SCPs) are drawn from existing registered healthcare professionals such nurses, operating department practitioners and other allied health professionals who have extended the scope of their practice. We are increasing the pool of staff SCPs can be drawn from.

Dementia

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce waiting lists for dementia diagnosis.

Helen Whately: The Government has made £17 million available to address dementia waiting lists and increase the number of diagnoses. NHS England and NHS Improvement are using this funding to aid recovery of referrals to memory assessment services, diagnosis of dementia and support access to post-diagnostic support. The funding can also be used to address the needs of those waiting for diagnosis and those who have a diagnosis but are unable to access support services due to the pandemic.

Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Zarah Sultana: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to (a) recognise inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care as a priority for the NHS and (b) develop a clear Government strategy on IBD care.

Helen Whately: NHS England and NHS Improvement are working closely with front-line clinical experts, patient representative groups and leading charities, including Crohn’s and Colitis UK, to develop evidence-based improvement tools to help improve and prioritise inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) care. This work includes a new IBD RightCare scenario, which will set out high-quality joined-up care at every point of the patient journey, as well as IBD data packs for local commissioners. These packs present data from different parts of the care pathway to help local systems identify the factors driving unwarranted variations in treatment, as well as narrative on how outcomes can be optimised.

Health Professions: Recruitment

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of the covid-19 outbreak on the long term recruitment of (a) nurses and (b) doctors.

Sir Mark Hendrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to recruit additional nursing staff.

Helen Whately: We have committed to delivering 50,000 more nurses by the end of this Parliament. The latest NHS Digital statistics show the number of nurses has increased by 10,800 between March 2020 to March 2021, excluding health visitors and midwives. This commitment will be achieved through increased domestic and international recruitment and improved retention.Health Education England is working with universities, the Medical Schools Council, Council of Deans of Health and the Royal Colleges to examine how COVID-19 may have impacted undergraduate cohorts and individuals in postgraduate medicine, including the impact on long-term recruitment.

Health Services: Autism and Learning Disability

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of his Department’s ability to meet the Government’s 2024 target of a 50 per cent reduction in inpatient beds for people with a learning disability and/or autism.

Helen Whately: As of the end of April 2021, there were 2,040 people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist-in patient settings. This is a net reduction of 30% on the inpatient number in March 2015. The Building the right support Delivery Board has been established to drive further progress in reducing the number of people with a learning disability and autistic people in specialist in patient settings. The Board is monitoring progress and can commission any work considered necessary to ensure the target is met.

Cancer: Mental Health

Alex Norris: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) protect and (b) improve the wellbeing of staff working in oncology departments during the covid-19 outbreak.

Helen Whately: From the outset of the pandemic we have put together a comprehensive psychological and emotional support package that remains in place for all National Health Service staff, including oncology professionals. This includes a dedicated support line available for staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week, specialist bereavement support and free access to mental health and wellbeing apps.  This support has been accessed by over 900,000 staff and many more have also accessed offers locally.We are in the process of setting up 40 dedicated mental health and wellbeing hubs across the country, of which 35 have now been established and are providing proactive outreach and assessment services, ensuring staff receive rapid access to evidence-based mental health services. In addition to £15 million spent on establishing the hubs in 2020/21, we have invested a further £37 million to ensure this offer continues to improve staff mental health throughout 2021/22. These hubs will focus on staff with more complex needs and will proactively identify at-risk groups.

Social Services: Coronavirus

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when the Government plans to expire the Care Act easements under the Coronavirus Act 2020 as recommended in its One Year Report on the status of the non-devolved provisions of the Coronavirus Act 2020 published in March 2021.

Helen Whately: A decision was made to expire the Care Act 2014 easements provision following our review of the provision in March, taking account of views from across the adult social care sector. As per the recommendation in the Coronavirus Act 2020 one-year report published in March 2021, regulations to expire the provision were laid on 21 April 2021, subject to approval by Parliament.

Care Homes: Coronavirus

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure that all care homes allow five visitors per relative in accordance with the easing of restrictions on 17 May 2021.

Helen Whately: The Government is working closely with care home providers, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and others to encourage and support care homes to allow more visiting safely. Important infection prevention and control measures including social distancing and cleaning may limit the number of visits that can take place. Visiting may also be limited where a care home has experienced a recent outbreak of COVID-19 or due to community prevalence of variants of concern, as directed by local public health officials.If a resident or their family have concerns that a care home is not following visiting guidance appropriately, it should be raised with the home in the first instance. They can also contact the CQC, who can investigate complaints.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans the Government has to make medical records available to commercial third parties; and what steps he is taking to ensure that medical records are not disclosed to third parties without the informed consent of patients.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The National Health Service does not allow data to be used solely for commercial purposes. All applications for access to this data must have a health or care benefit by organisations who have a legitimate need and a legal basis to use the data. NHS Digital publishes the details of the data it allows access to on a data release register so it can be held to account.The NHS carries out independent audits to verify organisations are using this data for the stated purposes, in accordance with the terms and conditions of their data sharing agreements.

Suicide: Coronavirus

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate he has made of the number of people who died by suicide during the covid-19 outbreak; and what steps his Department is taking on suicide prevention.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We have not made a formal estimate. We are investing an additional £57 million in suicide prevention from 2019/20 to 2023/24 through the NHS Long Term Plan. This will see investment in all areas of the country to support local suicide prevention plans and the development of suicide bereavement services. In addition, we are providing an extra £5 million in 2021/22, to be made available specifically to support suicide prevention voluntary and community sector organisations.

Maternity Services: Finance

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the allocation of specific funding to (a) maternal health services in Enfield North constituency, (b) maternal health services supporting Black and minority ethnic women and (c) programmes to improve maternity care for mothers and children.

Ms Nadine Dorries: There have been no specific discussions. NHS England and NHS Improvement are investing an additional £95 million in maternity services to support recruitment of 1,000 midwives, 80 consultant obstetricians and the implementation of the actions arising from the ‘Ockenden review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust’. In 2018/19 Health Education England (HEE) distributed £745,000 to support the implementation of Continuity of Carer models in maternity care. In 2020/21 HEE has also delivered a national training package to support Continuity of Carer. The NHS Long Term Plan also includes new measures to improve safety, quality and continuity of care that will help achieve our ambition to halve stillbirths, maternal and neonatal deaths and serious brain injuries in babies by 2025.

Maternity Services

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that women pregnant again after the death of a child are able to access midwife-led continuity of carer support; and (a) what funding and (b) other measures his Department is putting in place to help ensure a comprehensive nationwide transition to offering a midwife-led continuity of carer model in maternity services.

Ms Nadine Dorries: NHS England and NHS Improvement are committed to delivering continuity of carer to most women, so that it becomes the default model of care for women in maternity services across England. In 2018/19, Health Education England (HEE) distributed £745,000 to support the implementation of Continuity of Carer models in maternity care. In 2020/21 HEE has also been delivering a £300,000 national training package to support Continuity of Carer.The NHS Long Term Plan commits to ensuring that 75% of black and Asian women and a similar percentage of women from the most deprived neighbourhoods are offered Continuity of Carer by March 2024, with an interim ambition of 51% by March 2022.

Mental Health Services: Children and Young People

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for children to access Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We have made no recent estimate as an access and waiting times standard for child and adolescent mental health services has not yet been defined. The National Health Service is piloting a four-week waiting time for access to specialist mental health treatment for children and young people in 12 areas of England. The pilots will inform a recommendation to the Government on the potential development of access and waiting-time standards for all children and young people who need specialist mental health services.

Medical Records: Data Protection

Julian Sturdy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the transfer of patient records from GPs to a centralised NHS Digital system, what steps his Department has taken to publicise the patient opt-out option before 23 June 2021.

Ms Nadine Dorries: NHS Digital proactively promoted this new data collection through their website, engagement with media, stakeholder and patient groups and social media channels. They sought to raise awareness of the collection and its importance to the health and care system, but also to provide patients with a choice if they do not want their data to be used in this way by registering a data-opt-out.The new system will start on 1 September, allowing a further two months where we will engage with patients, doctors, health charities and others to strengthen awareness and understanding.

Eating Disorders: Health Services

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent estimate he has made of the average waiting time for people with eating disorders to access support services in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We have made no such estimate. Information for adults is not available as a national access and waiting times standard for adult eating disorder services has not yet been defined. A four-week waiting standard for adult community mental health services, including eating disorder services, is being piloted and considered as part of the Clinical Review of Standards. Further information on the specific definition of access for adult eating disorder services and a potential waiting time standard will be shared in 2021/22.For children and young people, we have set up the first waiting time standard for children and young people eating disorder services so that 95% of children with an eating disorder will receive treatment within one week for urgent cases and within four weeks for routine cases. Information on average waiting times for children and young people is not available.

Maternity Services: Coronavirus

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether, from 21 June 2021, partners will be able to attend, in person, all maternity appointments, including the birth of a child.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Throughout the pandemic, women have been able to have one birth partner of their choice with them during labour and childbirth, as long as their birth partner is well and does not have COVID-19 symptoms. Updated guidance published on 15 April 2021 by NHS England and NHS Improvement aims to ensure that women have access to support from a person of her choosing at all stages of the maternity journey.To facilitate this, NHS England and NHS Improvement have worked closely with trusts to adopt the actions set out in this updated guidance and to remove barriers which prevent trusts being able to facilitate partner presence in maternity units.

Mental Health Services: LGBT People

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to Pride Month, what steps he is taking to improve mental health outcomes for LGBTQ+ individuals.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Advancing mental health equalities is a priority outlined in the Mental Health Implementation Plan. All local health systems are expected to set out how they will specifically reduce health inequalities by 2023-24. We recognise that inequalities exist in access, experience and outcomes of mental health care for LGBTQ+ people. The National Health Service recently published its Advancing Mental Health Equalities Strategy to support local health systems to better address inequalities in mental health services. Implementation of the strategy will be overseen by the Advancing Mental Health Equalities Taskforce.

Surgical Mesh Implants

Emma Hardy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2021 to Question 3127, what outcomes will be required to be recorded on the Pelvic Floor Registry database; and what steps he is taking to ensure that data requirements implement the recommendations of the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review, published in July 2020.

Ms Nadine Dorries: NHS Digital has commenced work with patient groups and clinicians to develop a collection tool to capture patient reported outcome measures (PROMS) from patients as part of the Pelvic Floor Registry implementation. The interim PROMs infrastructure will be flexible enough to adapt to future academically approved questions, following research, to finalise a validated PROM for Pelvic Floor and related procedures. Outcomes captured by this interim PROM are anticipated to be used in conjunction with data that has already been collected by clinicians, which provides wider context.Adverse events following pelvic mesh surgery, such as those reported in the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety (IMMDS) Review, are being considered for inclusion. The Government will respond in full to the IMMDS Review later this year.

Eating Disorders: Mental Health Services

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to his Department's policy paper, COVID-19 mental health and wellbeing recovery action plan, updated on 1 April 2021, if he will publish the (a) baseline, (b) timeframe and (c) specific definition of access that will be applied for improving access to eating disorder services.

Ms Nadine Dorries: The timeframe for the delivery of the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan is 2021/22. NHS England and NHS Improvement publish data on the performance against the children and young people with an eating disorder (CYP ED) waiting times standard on a quarterly basis. Data for Quarter 4 2020/21 will represent the baseline for the Mental Health Recovery Action Plan deliverable in 2021/22.Children and young people up to the age of 19 years old referred for assessment or treatment for an eating disorder should receive National Institute for Health and Care Excellence approved treatment with a designated healthcare professional within one week for urgent cases and four weeks for every other case.A national access and waiting times standard for adult eating disorder services has not yet been defined. A four-week waiting standard for adult community mental health services, including eating disorder services, is being piloted and considered as part of the Clinical Review of Standards. Further information on the specific definition of access for adult eating disorder services and a potential waiting time standard will be shared in 2021/22.

Apple: Medical Records

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the timetable is for increasing the number of NHS patients who can access their medical data on the Apple Health app.

Ms Nadine Dorries: Apple launched the ability to see medical records on their Health app in October 2020 in the United Kingdom through an encrypted connection, in collaboration with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. We are currently working with Apple as they continue to roll out integration with patients’ medical data. The integration rollout is currently in operation across several trusts in England for secondary care and is rolled out on a trust to trust basis.

Mental Health Services: Young People

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has assessed the economic and social benefits of a rollout of early support hubs across England.

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the evidence informing the early support hub model.

Ms Nadine Dorries: We have made no such assessment.

Attorney General

Attorney General: Freedom of Information

Jack Dromey: To ask the Attorney General, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Lucy Frazer: The Attorney General’s Office does not operate a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from and their occupation.

Department for Education

Children: Disability

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what fiscal steps he is taking to help disabled children and their families recover from the covid-19 outbreak.

Vicky Ford: The COVID-19 outbreak has been extremely challenging for many families of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Supporting them is a priority for this government, and their wellbeing remains central to our response to COVID-19. We have consistently prioritised children who attend specialist settings by providing additional uplifts to these settings in the 2020 catch-up premium, the 2021 recovery premium, the National Tutoring Programme, and in funding to deliver summer schools. Special schools will receive additional funding for tutoring to ensure that these settings can provide one-to-one tutoring for their pupils. Across all settings, funding for school-led tutoring will provide greater flexibility to schools to take on local tutors or use existing staff to deliver tutoring. We anticipate that this will particularly benefit children and young people with SEND, where tutors familiar to these children can support them to realise the benefits of tuition. The Recovery Premium can also be used to support wider non-academic interventions, such as therapies. Additional funding, announced in June 2021, will ensure that teachers and practitioners in schools and early years settings are able to access high quality training and professional development to support all pupils to succeed. We know that high quality teaching is the best way to support all students, including those with SEND. We are also providing more than £27.3 million for the Family Fund in the 2021-22 financial year, supporting over 60,000 families on low incomes raising children and young people with disabilites and serious illnesses.

Apprentices: Coronavirus

Robert Halfon: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support his Department plans to provide to people on an apprenticeship whose placements have been delayed as a result of the covid-19 outbreak.

Gillian Keegan: During the COVID-19 outbeak, we have seen employers continuing to offer new apprenticeship opportunities and recruit apprentices to help meet their skills needs.We recognise that COVID-19 restrictions have caused disruption to training and assessment. We have worked closely with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education to introduce flexibility to employers, training providers and end-point assessment organisations to ensure that apprentices, including furloughed apprentices, can safely continue with, and complete, their programmes.Apprenticeships training can be delivered flexibly. During the COVID-19 outbreak, we have encouraged providers to deliver training remotely where possible and many providers have developed additional training materials and/or alternative mechanisms for delivery in response to COVID-19. As national restrictions have been relaxed by the government, barriers to training and assessment have now largely been removed.We would encourage employers and providers to continue to work together to judge the appropriate balance of on-site and remote training and assessment to ensure that the apprentice receives a high-quality experience.To help employers recruit the right people now, and not delay taking on apprentices, we are offering employers a higher incentive payment of £3,000 when they take on an apprentice as a new recruit until September 2021. Employers have submitted over 52,000 claims for the incentive payments for new apprentices with planned start dates between August 2020 and March 2021.

Children: Disability

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps is he taking to help disabled children recover from lost progress in managing their conditions in the context of the covid-19 outbreak.

Vicky Ford: I refer the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow to the answer I gave on 9 June 2021 to Question 10230.

Primary Education: Finance

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of funding for primary schools.

Nick Gibb: The Department increased core schools funding by £2.6 billion last year and is increasing core schools funding by £4.8 billion and £7.1 billion in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years respectively, compared to the 2019/20 financial year. This investment has enabled us to increase funding for primary schools by 3.2% per pupil through the schools national funding formula (NFF) in 2021/22, compared to last year.Every primary school will receive at least £4,000 per pupil this year, up from at least £3,750 per pupil last year. All schools will receive additional funds to cover additional teachers’ pay and pension costs, adding a further £180 to the minimum per pupil amount.The Department are increasing the extra support the NFF provides to small, rural primary schools by increasing the maximum amount they can attract through the sparsity factor to £45,000, a significant increase from £26,000 last year. This has contributed to small and remote primary schools attracting on average 5.1% more per pupil through the NFF this year compared to last.The Department reviews school funding on an ongoing basis and the NFF is designed to respond to changes in need, in order for us to target funding where evidence indicates it is most needed.

Schools: Sexual Offences

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to support teachers to deal with instances of sexual abuse in the classroom.

Nick Gibb: The Department is updating statutory guidance for Keeping Children Safe in Education for this September, ensuring schools have even clearer guidance on how to deal with reports of sexual abuse.The Department has already introduced the new compulsory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum, and from next term we expect the RSHE curriculum to be implemented in full and have asked head teachers to dedicate time from inset days to consider how best to do this.The Department will also be investing additional money to further test the impact of support and supervision models for designated safeguarding leads in up to 500 more schools.

Schools: Playing Fields

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many school playing fields have been converted under section 77 of the School Standards and Framework Act 1998 in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Gibb: Both changing the use of playing field land and disposals of playing field land require the Secretary of State’s consent for local authority owned land under section 77 of School Standards and Framework Act 1998 (“SSFA”).The majority of change of use cases involve building on existing playing field land in order to build new or expand existing classrooms, either permanently or temporarily, to accommodate pupil numbers. Whilst this will change the area into non-playing field land, it remains educational land.The Department has a clear policy presumption against the loss of publicly funded school land, particularly in the case of playing field land. Applicants are required to provide evidence that alternative proposals have been considered and consent is normally only given where an applicant provides sufficient sports and/or recreational mitigations to compensate for the loss of existing playing field and the department is satisfied that the benefits of the proposed change of use outweigh the loss of playing field land.Whilst the Department has recorded information on change of use applications on its central database since 2017, this information is used for internal case management purposes only and does not reflect the total number of cases.Regarding disposals of playing field land, since May 2010 the Department has published on GOV.UK details of disposals of publicly funded playing field land which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-land-decisions-about-disposals. The list will be updated shortly to include new playing field disposals since the last update in July 2020.

Children: Disability

Rushanara Ali: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of funding additional therapies for disabled children.

Vicky Ford: I refer the hon. Member for Bethnal Green and Bow to the answer I gave on 9 June 2021 to Question 10531.

Teachers: Social Media

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance his Department has published for teachers on the use of social media.

Nick Gibb: Part two of the Teachers’ Standards, published in 2011, defines the behaviour and attitudes which set the required standard for personal and professional conduct throughout a teacher’s career.The Standards are clear that teachers uphold public trust in the profession and should maintain high standards of ethics and behaviour, within and outside school. This includes showing tolerance of and respect for the rights of others; not undermining fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect; and showing tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs.The Teaching Regulation Agency uses the conduct elements of the Teachers’ Standards as a reference point when considering whether a teacher’s conduct has fallen significantly short of the standard of behaviour expected of a teacher.

Extracurricular Activities: Coronavirus

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he has taken to ensure that covid-19 restrictions on youth residential and summer camps are lifted as soon as possible and in line with other leisure activities.

Nick Gibb: Since 17 May all out of school settings, which would include youth residentials and summer camps, have been able to undertake residential visits for children. These settings can currently do so in groups of six, or two households, including at least one member of staff. From 21 June these settings will be able to do so in groups of 30 children, in line with the position for school residential visits. The Department has provided updated guidance on ‘Protective measures for holiday or after-school clubs and other out-of-school settings for children’, which sets out how providers can conduct residential visits safely. The guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/protective-measures-for-holiday-or-after-school-clubs-and-other-out-of-school-settings-for-children-during-the-coronavirus-covid-19-outbreak.Throughout the COVID-19 outbreak, the Government has received advice from the scientific community, in particular from the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) and its subgroups, when taking decisions on the best way to tackle the outbreak. Gathering in larger groups, including as part of residential visits, does increase the risk of transmission. COVID-19 spreads more easily indoors, especially over prolonged periods, for example, in shared sleeping arrangements, which increases the risk of residential visits. The Department continues to keep these restrictions under constant review and will ensure they remain proportionate to the threat to public health posed by COVID-19.As new evidence or data emerges, the Government will act accordingly to ensure that all settings have the right safety measures in place.The advice on residential visits will be reviewed again in advance of Step 4 of the roadmap out of lockdown.

Schools: Sports

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much covid-19 recovery funding has been allocated to school sports.

Nick Gibb: Physical education (PE) and school sport play an important part in supporting pupils to recover from the effects of school closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The Government has confirmed that the Primary PE and sport premium will continue at £320 million for the 2021/22 academic year. Schools will be permitted to carry forward any unspent PE and sport premium funding from the current academic year to ensure that this is spent to benefit primary pupils’ physical education, school sport, and physical activity recovery. In June 2021, the Department announced £1.4 billion of additional funding for education recovery. This is in addition to the £1.7 billion already committed, bringing total investment announced for education recovery over the past year to over £3 billion. Schools have the flexibility to determine how they choose to spend some of this funding to support the needs of their pupils, including on activities to support health and wellbeing where needed. The Government has also provided £10.1 million of funding to support schools to reopen their sports facilities and increase the opportunity for children and young people to take part in extra-curricular and community sport.

Universities: British National (Overseas)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how students arriving on the British National (Overseas) visa scheme are expected to enrol at universities in the UK in the next three years.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to support those arriving on the British National (Overseas) visa scheme to access student loans for higher and further education.

Michelle Donelan: Most applications for university in the UK are submitted using UCAS and further information can be found on their website at: https://www.ucas.com/undergraduate/applying-to-university. Some universities also accept applications directly. It is then for individual universities as to how to enrol students once they have been accepted onto a course.To qualify for home fee status in England and student finance, a person must have settled status or a recognised connection to the UK. This includes persons who are covered by EU law, have long residence in this country or who have been granted international protection by the Home Office.Currently, subject to meeting the normal eligibility requirements, Hong Kong British Nationals (Overseas) status holders will be able to qualify for home fee status and student finance once they have acquired settled status in the UK.

Pupils: Exercise and Sports

Peter Kyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate his Department has made of the proportion of school-age children who receive at least 30 minutes of sport and physical activity each school day.

Nick Gibb: Sport England collects data on activity by children and young people through the annual Active Lives Children and Young People Survey. The data for the 2019/20 academic year showed that 44.9% of children and young people (3.2 million) met the Chief Medical Officer’s guidelines of taking part in sport and physical activity for an average of 60 minutes or more every day. Data for the 2018/19 academic year showed that 40% of pupils did an average of 30 active minutes during the school day. School closures mean that it is difficult to produce a comparable figure for the 2019/20 academic year, but the Government will continue to collect data for future years. Physical activity and school sport play an important part in supporting pupils to recover from the effects of school closures due to the COVID-19 outbreak. To support this, the Government has confirmed that the Primary PE and Sport premium will continue at £320 million for the 2021/22 academic year. Schools will also be permitted to carry forward any unspent PE and sport premium funding from the current academic year to ensure that this is spent to benefit primary pupils’ physical education, school sport and physical activity recovery. In addition, in February the Department announced a £10.1 million investment into schools across England to help them to open their school sports facilities outside of the school day. This will allow them to open their facilities and run more sports activities and clubs before school, after school and during the summer holidays.

Pupils: Bexleyheath and Crayford

Sir David Evennett: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much funding is allocated per pupil in (a) high and (b) primary schools in Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency.

Nick Gibb: Schools in the Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency are receiving £82.8 million in 2021/22 through the National Funding Formula (NFF) – a 2.4% cash increase. This reflects an increase of 3.4% in pupil-led funding compared to 2020/21. In Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency, primary schools are attracting an average of £4,471, while secondary schools are attracting an average of £6,218 per pupil funding via the NFF. We do not provide final allocations at the constituency level. The amount that Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency attracts for schools will depend on Bexley’s local funding formula and up to date pupil numbers and characteristics from the October 2020 census.

Higher Education: Finance

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what percentage of higher education student premium funding was spent on improving (a) access and (b) graduate support in each of the last 10 years.

Michelle Donelan: Student premium funding forms part of the Strategic Priorities Grant allocated to higher education (HE) providers by the Office for Students (OfS). HE providers are autonomous institutions, as prescribed under the Higher Education and Research Act 2017, independent from government, and we do not collect data on how student premium funding is spent.All HE providers wishing to charge tuition fees above the basic fee level (£6,000+) and to be eligible for funding from the Strategic Priorities Grant must agree an access and participation plan with the OfS, setting out their targets and planned expenditure to improve access and participation based on their priorities, and the gaps they need to address for their own institution. The OfS requires a robust evaluation strategy to be in place and for HE providers to publish reports showing the impact of their access and participation activities and expenditure.Through their access and participation plans, providers deliver a range of activity such as schools outreach, attainment-raising activity, summer schools, financial support, and support targeted at key groups such as care leavers. The OfS cannot set targets or define activity - it is has a statutory duty to protect institutional autonomy over admissions and academic freedom.Individual provider access and participation plans are published and can be found on the OfS website here: https://www.officeforstudents.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/the-register/search-for-access-and-participation-plans/#/AccessPlans/.

Digital Technology: Disadvantaged

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the UK Committee for UNICEF and Carnegie UK Trust’s recent report, Closing the Digital Divide for Good; and what steps his Department plans to take to implement the recommendations outlined in that report.

Nick Gibb: The Department’s investment in devices, platforms, training and digital services is being built on to develop a sustainable strategy for digital technology in education. As part of this, the Department will review the report and consider the implications.

Department for Education: Freedom of Information

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Nick Gibb: The Department does not operate a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from and their occupation.

Adult Education: Finance

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of reducing the claw back provisions announced in the  Education & Skills Funding Agency guidance entitled ESFA 2020 to 2021 end of year reconciliation for adult education budget (AEB) and advanced learner loans bursary (ALLB) grant funded providers, updated on 7 June 2021, for (a) vocational and (b) other courses undertaken in alternative provision settings unable to be delivered in a non-online setting during the covid-19 outbreak.

Gillian Keegan: We are lowering the reconciliation threshold for the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) grant funded adult education budget (AEB) adult skills, including non-formula funded community learning and 19-24 traineeships, and Advanced Learner Loan Bursary (ALLB) fund providers for the 2020-21 academic year, from 97% and 100% respectively, to 90%.Our primary aim is to support providers to continue to deliver as much quality provision as possible, including above the 90% threshold, whether that be face-to-face where permitted, online or otherwise remotely, and including through subcontracting (for AEB-funded provision only) where that is in line with our subcontracting conditions set out in the rules and contracts.We acknowledge the situation is still difficult for providers but equally we know that many providers have been able to deliver very successfully remotely during lockdown and the return to face-to-face learning should enhance further providers’ ability to deliver.We are monitoring the situation carefully and, in particular, if there are providers that may need further support.

Further Education: Finance

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he will take to ensure smaller further education institutions are treated equitably in their applications for transformation funding.

Gillian Keegan: All further education (FE) colleges and designated institutions in England were invited to apply to stage 1 of the two stage FE Capital Transformation Fund in January 2021, by setting out proposals for investment to tackle poor condition across their estates.Stage 1 of the bidding process closed on 22 March and the department is assessing bid applications. All applications will be assessed on their own merits against the criteria and process set out in the published stage 1 guidance. Applications which meet the funds criteria will be prioritised for invitation to stage 2 of the bidding process based on the level of condition need addressed. The methodology used for prioritising applications at stage 1 was developed so that all colleges, regardless of size, are treated equitably.

Educational Institutions: Bullying

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) homophobic, (b) biphobic and (c) transphobic bullying in schools, colleges, and universities.

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to tackle homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying in schools, colleges, and universities.

Vicky Ford: The government has sent a clear message that bullying should never be tolerated, and we are committed to supporting schools to tackle it. Any form of harassment or violence is abhorrent and unacceptable anywhere in society, including in our universities which should be safe and inclusive environments. Since 2016, we have provided over £3.5 million of funding through our anti-bullying programme to support schools in their effort to tackle bullying. Following the success of these programmes we are currently running a procurement exercise to fund activity in financial year 2021-22, to make sure that schools have the right support in place to prevent bullying of all pupils, including those with protected characteristics.All schools are legally required to have a behaviour policy with measures to prevent all forms of bullying and have the freedom to develop their own anti-bullying strategies and monitoring approaches to best suit their environment. The department provides advice for schools, which outlines schools’ responsibilities. The advice makes clear that schools should make appropriate provision for a bullied child's social, emotional and mental health needs. The guidance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/preventing-and-tackling-bullying.We have published a research report which details common strategies that specific schools have found to be effective for combating bullying, including case studies with examples about actions schools have taken to improve preventative practices and support for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) pupils. It is available at: www.gov.uk/government/publications/approaches-to-preventing-and-tackling-bullying. We have also published ‘Respectful School Communities’, a self-review and signposting tool to support schools to develop a whole-school approach which promotes respect and discipline. This can combat bullying, harassment and prejudice of any kind, including hate-based bullying and can be found here: https://educateagainsthate.com/school-leaders/?filter=guidance-and-training-school-leaders.We are also making sure that all children in England will learn about respectful relationships, in person and online, as part of new mandatory Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE). These subjects are designed to give pupils the knowledge they need to lead happy, safe, and healthy lives and to foster respect for other people and for difference. Through these subjects, children will be taught about the importance of respectful relationships and the different types of loving and healthy relationships that exist. The statutory guidance states that all pupils should receive teaching on LGBT relationships during their school years. Secondary schools should include LGBT content in their teaching. Primary schools are strongly encouraged and enabled, when teaching about different types of family, to include families with same sex parents.Further and higher education providers have clear responsibilities, including under the Equality Act 2010, and should have robust policies and procedures in place to comply with the law, to investigate and swiftly address reports of harassment. Ofsted's inspection framework for further education providers looks at whether there is ‘an environment in which learners feel safe because staff and learners do not accept bullying, harassment or discrimination. Staff deal with any issues quickly, consistently and effectively’.The Office for Students (OfS) statement of expectations on harassment and sexual misconduct was published on 19 April and is a useful tool for providers to ensure their policies and processes reflect the expectations set out within the statement. As part of its next steps on harassment and hate crime, the OfS will then be considering options for connecting the statement of expectations to its conditions of registration.

Ministry of Justice

Ministry of Justice: Freedom of Information

Mr David Lammy: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has referred any Freedom of Information requests received by his Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on handling, in the last two years.

Chris Philp: I can confirm that the Ministry of Justice has referred a number of Freedom of Information requests to the Clearing House during the last two years.Any FOI requests which are referred to the Clearing House are done so in line with the published criteria available on gov.uk. The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across government to requests for information.The Ministry of Justice consistently receives some of the highest volumes of Freedom of Information requests compared to other Government Departments and has sustained performance above the Information Commissioner’s timeliness target of 90% for 43 consecutive months.

Berwyn Prison: Drugs

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the availability of illegal substances at HMP Berwyn.

Alex Chalk: HMP Berwyn has benefited from the £100 million investment in prisons security announced by the Government in August 2019, receiving one of the new X-ray body scanners that have been installed at 51 prisons across England and Wales. These have detected drugs and contraband that fuel crime in prisons, and which have resulted in over 4800 positive identifications nationally.HMP Berwyn’s drug strategy practices were reviewed in March 2021 as part of an HMPPS Drugs Diagnostic Team visit to assess the current and changing threat level from illegal substances. A number of recommendations have been made to combat the threat as a result of the visit.Threats particular to HMP Berwyn include paper impregnated with substances commonly known as Spice, the manufacturing of illicit brewed alcohol (IBA) and other substances, as well as access to illicit items.Between March 2019 and February 2020 there were a total of 346 drug finds at HMP Berwyn. This represents 2% of the total drug finds in Public Sector Prisons at the time.

Prisons: Wales

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many inmates have completed accredited rehabilitation programmes at (a) HMP Berwyn and (b) all other Welsh prisons, in each year since 2017.

Alex Chalk: Due to the nature of the populations, HMP Parc, HMP Berwyn and HMP Usk are the only prisons in Wales where accredited programmes are delivered.We routinely publish figures for delivery of accredited programmes, including completions in custody by establishment. These are available in the HMPPS Annual Digest, the most recent of which can be found in Chapter 6 at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/hmpps-annual-digest-april-2019-to-march-2020

Berwyn Prison: Prison Officers

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice,  how many prison officers in positions as frontline operational staff at HMP Berwyn deployed in (a) each prison block and (b) the care and separation unit have (i) less than two year's experience and (ii) less than one year experience.

Alex Chalk: The breakdown of frontline operational staff deployed in each prison block and the Care and Separation Unit at HMP Berwyn by years’ experience is provided below:AreaUnder 1 Years’ Service (as at 15th June 2021)1-2 Years’ Service (as at 15th June 2021)Alwen2225Bala1820Ceiriog1216Care and Separation Unit00

Parole Board: Meetings

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, for what reason the (a) hearings and (b) deliberations of the Parole Board for England and Wales are not held in public; and if he will take steps to alter this policy in the interests of (i) transparency and (ii) accountability.

Alex Chalk: It is a statutory requirement under the terms of the current Parole Board Rules for all hearings to be heard in private. That gives the Parole Board no flexibility to consider holding a public hearing even where that may be justified in all the particular circumstances of the case. In February, following a public consultation last year, the Government announced its intention to amend the current rules so that hearings can be held in public when the Parole Board determines it would be in the interests of justice to do so. These changes will be made to the Parole Board Rules later this year. This is being taken forward as part of the root and branch review of the parole system which was launched in October 2020. The Terms of Reference for the review, and one of the government’s priorities, includes looking at ways to increase the transparency and openness of the parole system so as to improve public confidence and accountability. We plan to build on previous reforms to improve transparency, such as the introduction of Parole Board decision summaries in 2018 which provide reasons for its decisions, mainly to victims. The review is due to report later this year and will set out how the new transparency measures and other reforms to the parole system will be implemented.

Ministry of Justice: Freedom of Information

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Chris Philp: The Ministry of Justice does not operate a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests in terms of sensitivity. It does, however, use a process by which requests are assessed according to their complexity and sensitivity of the subject matter. On that basis, requests are assigned as either a “trigger” or a “non-trigger” request. If a request is complex and or concerns a sensitive topic it will be a “trigger” request. Responses to such requests will attract extra levels of compliance check by officials and may include contextual lines to explain any information being disclosed. The Information Commissioner’s Office’s guidance requires public authorities to be requester and motive blind. This means that responses provided are not influenced by whom has submitted a request, or by the motive that may have prompted it. Any information being disclosed under the terms of the Act will be the same, no matter whom the requester. The Ministry of Justice consistently receives some of the highest volumes of Freedom of Information requests compared to other Government Departments and has sustained performance above the ICO timeliness target of 90% for 43 consecutive months.

Treasury

Financial Services

Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to his oral contribution of 9 November 2020, Official Report, column 623, whether it remains the Government’s policy to ensure that the UK remains the most open, the most competitive and the most innovative place to do financial services anywhere in the world.

John Glen: n a statement to the House of Commons in November, the Chancellor set out the Government’s vision for the UK’s financial services sector. This vision is of a sector that is more open; more technologically advanced; and a world-leader in the use of green finance, serving the communities and citizens of this country. Since November, numerous steps have been taken to progress this vision, and these were strengthened further at Budget and by the passing of the Financial Services Act in April. In addition, we have set out our response to Ron Kalifa’s review of UK Fintech to ensure we continue to build on our existing strengths as a world leader in financial technology. We are also taking forward each of the recommendations in Lord Hill’s recent Listings Review that were addressed to the Treasury. We have shared our plans to consult on reforms to the wider capital markets regime this summer, with the aim of supporting competitiveness whilst ensuring the UK maintains high regulatory standards. The government is also building new and deeper financial services relationships with countries across the globe via new trade agreements and through regular and established economic and financial dialogues. Whether it be through our international engagement or domestic reviews, we are ensuring that the UK continues to be a world leader in financial services.

Corporation Tax

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of the proposed minimum global corporation tax rate on (a) the UK economy and (b) other European economies that the UK has trading links with.

Jesse Norman: The Government is delighted that the G7 has come together to back the proposals developed by the OECD to reform the international tax framework. Reaching final agreement, with the G20 and OECD Inclusive Framework, on a two-pillar solution which reallocates taxing rights and introduces a global minimum tax would be a major multilateral achievement and introduce greater stability into the international tax landscape. The details of a final agreement are still subject to international negotiation, and it would not be appropriate to provide a detailed impact assessment. If a political agreement is reached and both pillars are implemented in the UK, they would be subject to standard tax policymaking process, with their impacts formally assessed through the OBR forecast process.

Corporation Tax

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, which foreign Governments have (a) informed him of their support for a 21 per cent minimum global corporation tax rate and (b) asked the UK to support that rate.

Jesse Norman: The Government is delighted that the G7 has come together to back the proposals developed by the OECD to reform the international tax framework. Reaching final agreement, with the G20 and OECD Inclusive Framework, on a two-pillar solution which reallocates taxing rights and introduces a global minimum tax would be a major multilateral achievement that introduces stability into the international tax landscape. The details of a final agreement are still subject to international negotiation and it would not be appropriate for the Government to provide detailed commentary on those discussions.

SME Brexit Support Fund

Sarah Olney: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much and what proportion of the SME Brexit Support Fund has been spent to date.

Jesse Norman: Up to 14 June 2021, c.£3.6m of grants have been offered, which represents nearly a fifth of the £20m SME Brexit Support fund.

Revenue and Customs: Freedom of Information

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether HM Revenue and Customs has referred any Freedom of Information requests received by his Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on handling in the last two years.

Jesse Norman: FOI requests are referred to the Clearing House in line with the published criteria available on GOV.UK. The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across Government to requests for information.

Stamp Duty Land Tax

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will extend the reclaim period for additional stamp duty for properties unable to sell as a result of issues relating to cladding and external wall survey forms.

Jesse Norman: A refund of the higher rate of SDLT paid can be claimed if an old main residence is sold within three years of the purchase of the new main residence. For most people, three years is enough time to sell a previous main residence. However, someone who purchases a new main residence on or after 1 January 2017 will still be eligible to apply for a refund if exceptional circumstances meant they were unable to sell their previous main residence in three years and they sold the property as soon as possible after those exceptional circumstances ended. Where a person is not permitted to sell a previous main residence, such as due to fire safety issues, the circumstances may be considered exceptional. HMRC will consider each case on its own merits.

Travel: Finance

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what financial support his Department has allocated for the travel, aviation and tourism industries.

Kemi Badenoch: The aviation and aerospace sectors are being supported with over £11 billion made available through loan guarantees, support for exporters, the Bank of England’s Covid Corporate Financing Facility and grants for research and development. In addition, the renewed Airport and Ground Operations Support Scheme that the Chancellor announced in his Budget will provide support for eligible businesses with their fixed costs for a further six months, up to the equivalent of their business rates liabilities for the first half of the 2021-22 financial year, subject to certain conditions and a cap per claimant of £4m. In England, the wider travel and tourism sectors can benefit from the £5 billion package of grant support announced at Budget. This includes Restart Grants worth up to £6,000 if classified as non-essential retail or up to £18,000 if classified as a leisure or accommodation business. This package of support also includes the £425 million top-up to the Additional Restrictions Grant which has already provided Local Authorities (LAs) with £1.6 billion. This funding is at the LA’s discretion and is intended to support businesses which are not eligible for Restart Grants, but which are nonetheless experiencing a severe impact on their business. The Government continues to review all the economic support schemes, including grant support, as the public health response evolves.

Treasury: Freedom of Information

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has referred any Freedom of Information requests received by his Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on handling in the last two years.

Kemi Badenoch: FOI requests are referred to the Clearing House in line with the published criteria available on gov.uk. The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across government to requests for information.

Treasury: Freedom of Information

Jack Dromey: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Kemi Badenoch: The Treasury does not operate such a system. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from and their occupation.

Carbon Emissions: Finance

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will introduce in the Autumn Statement a specific requirement in the Green Book for policies to align with the net zero objective.

Steve Barclay: The Green Book sets out guidance on how to appraise policies, programmes and projects, to help public servants give objective advice to decision makers. Achieving net zero is both a policy objective and a legal requirement and is already considered in the existing Green Book methodology. When setting out the strategic case for a policy, achieving net zero is regarded as an objective for any relevant proposals and as a legal constraint on all proposals. Also, as part of the economic case, the Green Book requires an assessment of environmental costs and benefits to objectively advise decision makers about these impacts.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Housing: Insulation

Dr Julian Lewis: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what protection he has made available to leaseholders to prevent freeholders making them forfeit their leases due to inability to pay (a) cladding and (b) other fire safety-related costs demanded in service charge bills rendered for payment prior to the introduction of planned government fire-safety remedial compensation schemes; and if he will make a statement.

Christopher Pincher: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Buildings: Insulation

Lucy Powell: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how much of the (a) £400 million Social Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund and (b) £200 million Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Fund has been allocated.

Christopher Pincher: Data on the progress of the Social and Private Sector ACM Cladding Remediation Funds, including the amount allocated so far from each one, can be found in the monthly Building Safety Data Release available at: www.gov.uk/guidance/aluminium-composite-material-cladding#acm-remediation-data.

Community Relations: Antisemitism

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions he has had with Jewish and Muslim community groups to bring their communities together to help tackle antisemitism.

Eddie Hughes: Antisemitism has absolutely no place in our society, which is why we are taking a strong lead in tackling it in all its forms. Since May, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government has met with Jewish communities affected by the recent increase in hate crime and has met with Lord Mann, the Government’s Independent Adviser on Antisemitism, who is providing independent advice on the most effective methods to tackle antisemitism.We recognise that tackling the scourge of antisemitism requires the commitment of all communities and we are working with civil society partners to explore how best to tackle this, as well as anti-Muslim hatred. In doing so we are ensuring a range of views are taken into consideration including from both Jewish and Muslim communities.

Community Relations: Antisemitism

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what initiatives he is undertaking to bring Jewish and Muslim community groups together to help tackle the growth in antisemitism.

Eddie Hughes: This Government has an excellent track record of taking action to prevent antisemitism.We have provided funding to a number of innovative projects to reinforce messages of tolerance for our young people and teach them about the dangers of hate.This includes work we have funded in schools and with young people such as Solutions not Sides, which aims to tackle Antisemitism, Islamophobia and polarisation of the issue of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the UK. We have also supported organisations working to tackle the root causes of all discrimination and prejudice including antisemitism, such as Anne Frank Trust and the Union of Jewish Students which both work to tackle antisemitic attitudes and incidents in universities.We have also provided £500k over three years (2020-23) to the Holocaust Education Trust in partnership with the Union of Jewish Students for the Lessons from Auschwitz Universities Project, which will bring together almost 450 student leaders and reach 8000 students through education on the Holocaust, anti-racism work, British values and faith values.

Landlords: Licensing

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2021 to Question 11571, on Landlords: Licensing, if he will publish data on the average time taken by his Department to respond to requests from local authorities to make a decision under the referenced framework in each of the last five years.

Eddie Hughes: This is not data we routinely publish.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Freedom of Information

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has referred any Freedom of Information requests received by his Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on handling, in the last two years.

Eddie Hughes: FOI requests are referred to the Clearing House in line with the published criteria available on Gov.uk. The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across government to requests for information.

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Freedom of Information

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Eddie Hughes: We treat all Freedom of Information requests on their own merits and therefore do not have a red, amber and green rating system.All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from and their occupation.

Private Rented Housing

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans he has to restrict the number of months of rent landlords can request upfront; and what assessment he has made of the effect on tenants in the private rental market of landlords being able to charge tenants six months of rent upfront on their accommodation.

Eddie Hughes: It is for landlords and tenants to agree the amount of rent that should be charged and how much should be paid in advance, according to individual circumstances. We do not expect it to be the norm that landlords ask for multiple months of rent in advance.The Government took action through the Tenant Fees Act to prohibit rent from being 'frontloaded' at the outset of a tenancy. This prevents a situation where tenants are charged higher rent in place of letting fees.The Act means that a landlord cannot require a tenant to pay a higher amount for one or several months then a lower amount after this.We have not assessed the impact of the practice of multiple months of rent being paid upfront, but will continue to monitor this closely.

National Holocaust Memorial Centre and Learning Service

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what progress his Department has made on establishing a permanent Holocaust memorial in the UK.

Luke Hall: Proposals for constructing a striking yet sensitive Holocaust Memorial in Victoria Tower Gardens were presented at a planning inquiry last year and a decision is awaited. Arrangements have been put in place within the Department to enable the Housing Minister to make a decision on the planning application in a fair, transparent and unbiased way.

Parking: Key Workers

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with trade unions on the decision to withdraw the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass by 21 June 2021.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has carried out an impact assessment on the financial effect of the withdrawal of the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass on those eligible for that pass.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what communications his Department has issued to ensure that NHS staff members, health and social workers and NHS volunteer responders are aware of the withdrawal of the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass by 21 June 2021.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities offered emergency parking provision to NHS key workers following the issuing of health, care and volunteer workers parking pass guidance.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussion he has had with local authorities to understand the impact of withdrawing the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass.

Alex Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the deadline for withdrawal of the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass in the event that the planned easing of covid-19 restrictions on 21 June 2021 is postponed.

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussions his Department has had with trade unions on the decision to withdraw the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass by 21 June 2021.

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, whether his Department has carried out an impact assessment on the financial effect of the withdrawal of the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass on those eligible for that pass.

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what communications his Department has issued to ensure that NHS staff members, health and social workers and NHS volunteer responders are aware of the withdrawal of the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass by 21 June 2021.

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many local authorities offered emergency parking provision to NHS key workers following the issuing of health, care and volunteer workers parking pass guidance.

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what discussion he has had with local authorities to understand the impact of withdrawing the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass.

Paula Barker: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, if he will extend the deadline for withdrawal of the health, care and volunteer workers parking pass in the event that the planned easing of covid-19 restrictions on 21 June 2021 is postponed.

Luke Hall: At the end of March 2020, the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government reached an agreement with the Local Government Association that local councils in England would voluntarily offer free car parking to all NHS workers, social care staff and NHS volunteer responders during the emergency response period.With the national lockdown drawing to a close, challenges in managing pass fraud and an increasing number of councils moving toward local concessions for health workers and other groups, it was agreed that the national pass guidance should be withdrawn.This is reflected in new joint parking enforcement advice provided in April to local authorities by the Local Government Association, British Parking Association and London Councils. In May, further updates were shared with NHS Trusts, the Royal Voluntary Service and local authorities, and the guidance page was updated on gov.uk.Councils are responsible for setting their own local policy and are already acting on this advice, with some deciding to offer their own concessions. Those interested in local parking concessions can check their local councils' website for further details of any local schemes.NHS staff continue to be eligible for free parking in hospital car parks and funding for this has been provided to NHS Trusts by government.

Pocket Parks Scheme

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what the budget was of the Pocket Parks scheme; and how much of that funding was allocated.

Luke Hall: In 2019-2020 a total of £1.35 million was made available for Pocket Parks, of which £1,343,653.33 was allocated.

Pocket Parks Scheme

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what plans the Government has to re-open the Pocket Parks scheme to new applications.

Luke Hall: The Government recognises the value of parks and green spaces in providing vibrant and inclusive locations for communities to socialise, volunteer, work, and exercise. We have seen during the COVID-19 pandemic how important access to parks and green spaces are to local communities. We recognise that green spaces foster health, well-being, integration, and social engagement. There are no immediate plans to continue the Pocket Parks Scheme. However, as we move beyond the threat of COVID-19, we will explore how we can best support all urban parks and green spaces, taking into account the Government’s environmental, social, and health priorities.

Local Government: Pay

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to increase council workers’ wages.

Luke Hall: The Government would like to express its gratitude to the whole of the local government workforce who work incredibly hard and have done so especially as part of the frontline response to Covid-19. Their hard work and dedicated efforts have been essential in delivering vital local services under these exceptional circumstances and we have seen the positive impact they have on local communities.Local authorities are independent employers, and decisions on pay and terms and conditions are for them to make, in line with general good conduct principles. The Government does not have any role in these decisions, but has allocated over £9 billion directly to councils since the start of the pandemic. At the Spending Review, the Chancellor also announced that local authorities will receive over £3 billion of additional support for Covid-19 in 2021-22. The Government continues to support the sector where it can and will continue to work with local government and their representatives to ensure they are managing, and will continue to provide funding certainty and stability to support local government.

Levelling Up Fund: Ministerial Duties

Liam Byrne: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, which Minister of his Department is responsible for the day to day administration of the Levelling Up Fund.

Luke Hall: The £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund will invest in infrastructure that improves everyday life across the UK, including regenerating town centres and high streets, upgrading local transport, and investing in cultural and heritage assets.The Fund is jointly managed by HM Treasury, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department for Transport.

Pocket Parks Scheme

Mr Richard Holden: To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, how many applications were (a) made and (b) successful to the Pocket Parks fund in (i) each local authority area and (ii) Parliamentary constituency.

Luke Hall: Details of Pocket Parks funding recipients can be found in the public domain at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/68-new-parks-to-inject-green-space-into-urban-areas.

Ministry of Defence

Armed Forces: Radicalism

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps he is taking to reduce the risk of extremism within the armed forces.

Leo Docherty: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not tolerate extremism of any kind and it is not compatible with the values and standards of our Armed Forces. We continue to be vigilant and are determined to take early action to confront and challenge such behaviours when they occur, including ensuring that referrals are made to the appropriate authorities. The MOD adheres to the Home Office Prevent programme and guidance on how to identify extremist individuals via Joint Service Publication 345, Applying Prevent within Defence. Prevent is briefed to the key unit command posts and all Service personnel via various courses, including through basic training. More information on Prevent can be found on the Government’s counter-terrorism website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance.   Internally, Defence uses the Channel process to deal with Service personnel who have shown signs of extremism. Membership of proscribed organisations is not tolerated and those who have been convicted of offences are unlikely to continue to serve. Information on the Channel process can be found at the following website: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/channel-and-prevent-multi-agency-panel-pmap-guidance

Porton Down: Animal Experiments

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 June 2021 to Question 6340, on Porton Down: Animal Experiments, on which species of animal were scientific procedures conducted in 2019 and 2020; and how many scientific procedures were conducted on each species.

Jeremy Quin: The numbers of scientific procedures conducted pursuant to the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986, by species for 2019 and 2020, are set out in the table below:-Common nameSpecies name20192020MiceMus musculus1,3281,014PigSus scrofa domestica4947MarmosetCallithrix jacchus5855RatRattus norvegicus5616Guinea PigCavia porcellus032Hamster (Syrian)Mesocricetus auratus930Total Procedures 1,5001,194

Fleet Solid Support Ships: Procurement

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will ensure that technical data packages are included in any fleet solid support ship contract.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will ensure that technical data packages are included in his Department's New Medium Helicopter Programme contract.

Jeremy Quin: A range of technical information is required as part of the Department's procurement process for equipment. This may include, for example, technical publications, operating and systems manuals to ensure that equipment can be safely operated, maintained and configured through life. The procurement strategy for the new Medium Helicopter programme is under development and a contract has not yet been placed with industry. The contract will include technical publications in order that the aircraft can be maintained and configured through life. The eventual manufacture contract for the Fleet Solid Support ships will similarly contain provisions for all such information to be provided.

Mali: Peacekeeping Operations

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2021 to Question 12969 on Mali: Peacekeeping Operations, how many personnel were returned home as a result of covid-19.

James Heappey: No Service personnel deployed with the UK Task Force in Mali have returned home due to COVID-19.

Ministry of Defence: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, to what extent their Department makes use of artificial intelligence in the implementation of its policies; and how much was spent from their Department’s budget on artificial intelligence in each of the last three years.

Jeremy Quin: AI and AI-enabled systems have the potential to transform Defence - from the back office to the battlespace. We will set out an ambitious plan to accelerate the development and adoption of these technologies through a Defence AI Strategy later this year, and are significantly ramping up investment as part of the £6.6 billion investment in R&D announced through the Integrated Review and 2020 Spending Round. This includes the establishment of a Defence AI Centre as part of the Defence Digital Foundry. AI is an enabling technology that will be used as part of a diverse range of Defence services and capabilities. While over 200 AI-related projects are currently underway across the department - covering areas such as the analysis of intelligence data, the development of autonomous marine vehicles, and the use of AI to support military command and control - the Department does not capture or hold centrally spend data on the AI-specific elements of these projects.

Aircraft Carriers

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the feasibility of fitting a catapult system to Aircraft Carriers.

Jeremy Quin: Since the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers entered service no such feasibility assessment has been made. In the coming years the intent is to expand experimentation of Uncrewed Air Systems (UAS) with Royal Navy vessels. This may include a number of projects to consider UAS capabilities for the Queen Elizabeth Class carriers, including Fixed Wing UAS. The launch and recovery systems for these capabilities may require assessments which could include catapult systems.

Apache AH-64 Helicopters: Guided Weapons

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the delivery date is for the new JAGM missile systems for the AH-64E Apache helicopter.

Chris Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what the estimated cost is of the JAGM Air-to-Ground Missile for the AH-64E Apache helicopter.

Jeremy Quin: The delivery date for the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile has not yet been determined. To date, a very small quantity of missiles have however been procured to support technical assessments and trials, to enable clearance of the weapon on the Apache AH-64E helicopter. I am withholding information about the cost paid for a single missile as its disclosure would prejudice commercial interests.

Military Bases: York

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his revised programme of estate disposals, when (a) Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Strensall, (b) Imphal Barracks, York and (c) Army Medical Services Training Centre are due to close.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the proposed closure of (a) Queen Elizabeth Barracks, Strensall, (b) Imphal Barracks, York and (c) Army Medical Services Training Centre, Towthorpe, what the timetable is for the relocation of (i) services and (ii) troops.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the proposed closure of the (a) Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Strensall, (b) Imphal Barracks in York and (c) Army Medical Services Training Centre in Towthorpe, what discussions his Department has had with representatives of the City of York Council on the repurposing and development of each of those  estates; and which services or parts of each of those estates is planned to be retained by his Department.

Jeremy Quin: As previously announced the disposal of Queen Elizabeth Barracks in 2024, Imphal Barracks in 2031 and Army Medical Services Training Centre in 2024 remains on track. Typically, military operations cease ahead of disposal, with units and services relocating three to six months before the site is sold. Some units may relocate earlier as part of wider military moves. The Ministry of Defence has promoted all three sites for redevelopment through the City of York Council's emerging local plan since 2016, when the sites were first announced for disposal, and have engaged with each formal consultation stage with the requested supporting technical documents.

Ministry of Defence: Freedom of Information

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Leo Docherty: No, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not operate a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity. The MOD endeavours to process all requests on receipt within the prescribed timelines under the FOIA legislation, regardless of the subject or sensitivity of the request.

Libya: Armed Conflict

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what information the Government holds on which opposition Libyan opposition groups (a) Salman Abedi, (b) Khairi Saadallah and (c) Rachid Redouane fought for in the war in that country in 2011.

James Heappey: The Ministry of Defence is aware of the historic Libyan links of the three named individuals (Salman Abedi, Khairi Saadallah and Rachid Redouane). However, even from this distance in time, disclosure of our understanding of the various Libyan groups that these individuals were associated with, could undermine future intelligence analysis and operations being conducted in support of national security.

Oman: Visits Abroad

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answers of 17 May and 14 June 2021 to Questions 490 and 12311, who the Chief of the Defence Staff met during his visit to Oman from 2 to 5 January 2020.

James Heappey: The Chief of Defence Staff met with the following:Lt Gen Ahmed bin Harith Al Nabhani, Chief of Staff of the Sultan's Armed Forces (COSAF)His Excellency Sayyid Badr bin Saud bin Harub Al Busaidi, Minister Responsible for Defence Affairs (MRDA)

Yemen: Military Intervention

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether British air defence units in Saudi Arabia have been involved in the targeting of drones flown from Yemen by the Houthi rebel group.

James Heappey: British Air Defence units in Saudi Arabia help identify and track objects in Saudi airspace. Any action is decided upon and conducted by Saudi forces.

Department for Work and Pensions

Universal Credit

Anneliese Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Annex 1 of the letter of 24 May 2021 from the Minister for Welfare Delivery to the Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee on Universal Credit Business Case: refreshed costs and savings for 2020/21 and 2021/22, what assumptions her Department has made for the (a) non-take-up in legacy benefits and tax credits in the New Legacy Savings Model mentioned in that Annex and (b) take-up of Universal Credit in that model.

Will Quince: Under the Legacy system, households had to claim separately for benefits received, for instance an in-work lone parents in rented accommodation would need to claim both Tax Credits and Housing Benefit. However, some households may not have realised they were entitled to, or chosen to claim, all the benefits they were entitled to. As an integrated benefit, Universal Credit automatically increases take-up and we estimate that when fully rolled-out, 700,000 households will benefit from claiming their full entitlement in Universal Credit In the New Legacy Savings model, we have taken the projections for the number of households on Universal Credit and made an adjustment to take account that fewer benefits would have been claimed under the legacy system, based on the above assessment. This adjustment applies to around 10% of households.

Universal Credit: Maladministration

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many universal credit claimants have had their claim undercalculated in error after receiving two wage payments within one assessment period, since the secondary legislation laid by her Department intended to prevent those errors.

Will Quince: This data is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate costs. We recognise the impact that having double earnings in an assessment period can have on individual households and their ability to manage their finances. The legislation we introduced on 16th November 2020 provides a remedy to the Court of Appeal Judgment in the case of Johnson and others and allows us to reallocate monthly earnings to another assessment period. This means that claimants affected by this issue will have one salary payment taken into account in each assessment period rather than two. To meet the Court of Appeal Judgment as soon as was practicable, we introduced a solution based on a streamlined dispute process currently in place. This has enabled those who are affected to benefit under this regulation. Claimants simply need to tell their work coach, either in one of their regular discussions or via their journal, if they think they are affected. We expect to automate identification of affected claimants in mid-summer 2021. This will allow us to proactively correct awards before they are paid, without the need for the claimant to raise the issue.

Children: Poverty

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer on 28 May 2021 to Question 6445 on Children: Poverty, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of the impact of the £20 uplift in universal credit on child poverty in (a) England and (b) Manchester Gorton constituency.

Will Quince: Looking at the impact on poverty of an individual policy is complex and inherently speculative as it requires projecting how incomes will change for every individual in society which are affected by a huge range of unknown factors. To monitor poverty for different groups the Department publishes the Households Below Average Incomes (HBAI) publication which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020 Data at constituency level is unavailable in this publication due to insufficient sample size.

Children: Poverty

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the impact of the £20 uplift in universal credit on levels of child poverty in (a) Scotland and (b) East Renfrewshire.

Will Quince: No assessment has been made. This Government is wholly committed to supporting those on low incomes, including by increasing the living wage, and by spending an estimated £111 billion on welfare support for people of working age in 2020/21. This included around £7.4 billion of Covid-related welfare policy measures. As the economy recovers, our ambition is to help people move into and progress in work as quickly as possible based on clear evidence around the importance of employment, particularly where it is full-time, in substantially reducing the risks of poverty. We are investing over £30 billion in our ambitious Plan for Jobs which is already delivering for people of all ages right across the country.

Children: Poverty

Kirsten Oswald: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate she has made of the levels of child poverty in (a) Scotland and (b) East Renfrewshire constituency.

Will Quince: This Government is wholly committed to tackling poverty. Throughout the pandemic, our priority has been to support the most vulnerable including through spending an additional £7.4billion to strengthen the welfare system, taking our total expenditure on welfare support for people of working age to an estimated £112 billion in 2020/21. National Statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication. Data for East Renfrewshire constituency is unavailable due to insufficient sample size. Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in Scotland, covering 2019/20, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-for-financial-years-ending-1995-to-2020 in data table 4.16ts (relative low income, before and after housing costs) and in data table 4.22ts (absolute low income, before and after housing costs). In the three years to 2019/20, the absolute child poverty rate, before housing costs, in Scotland was 17%, down 3 percentage points since the three years to 2009/10. The Department now publishes supplementary official statistics on the number of children in low income families at constituency level. Children in Low Income Families data is published annually. The latest figures on the number of children who are in low income in East Renfrewshire constituency, covering 2019/20, can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-2014-to-2020/children-in-low-income-families-local-area-statistics-fye-2015-to-fye-2020. Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.

Employment: Training

John Redwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is taking to train more people to fill shortages in (a) HGV driving, (b) farming, (c) construction and (d) other areas with labour shortages.

Mims Davies: The Department is continuing to work with the Department for Education, Devolved Authorities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as well as other Government Departments to fill vacancies in construction, logistics, farming and other sectors, offering training for those who need it, and securing jobs directly for those ready to move into roles. DWP’s Sector-Based Work Academy Programme (SWAP) helps employers to fill job vacancies in sectors with a high demand for workers. In the haulage sector we have been running SWAPs in partnership with employers and trade associations, including the Road Haulage Association (RHA) and Eddie Stobart Logistics, to deliver tailored training to our customers so that they can obtain their HGV licence and the skills they need to enter the logistics sector as a HGV driver. In agriculture we have worked with DEFRA and key Trade Associations, including the National Farmers Union, to develop a regional recruitment strategy that utilises DWP’s Jobcentre Plus network, fosters strong local links between employers and Work Coaches, and gives jobseekers the skills and knowledge they need to enter the sector. In construction, DWP support the Construction Skills Delivery Group to improve and promote the existing range of training offers which include new occupational traineeships, T Levels, flexible apprenticeships, Skills Bootcamps, and free L3 qualifications for adults who do not already have A levels or equivalent.

Clinical Waste: Waste Disposal

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance she has published for local authorities on the disposal of (a) sharps and (b) other clinical waste; and how often such waste should be collected.

Mims Davies: The effective management of clinical waste is an essential part of ensuring that health and social care activities do not pose a risk of injury or infection. It encompasses several statutory areas, including infection control and health and safety legislation; environment and waste legislation; and transport legislation. Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance on the management of healthcare waste advises dutyholders, including local authorities, to pay particular attention to: Managing the waste and ensuring compliance with legislationTypes / classification of waste and how it should be safely storedTransportation of waste Detailed UK wide guidance from the Department of Health and Social Care is provided by Health Technical Memorandum 07:01 Safe management of Healthcare Waste. This guidance provides a framework for best practice waste management to help healthcare organisations, and other healthcare waste producers, meet legislative requirements, identify opportunities to improve waste minimisation and reduce the associated environmental and carbon impacts of managing waste. While this Health Technical Memorandum includes specific sections on sharps waste, HSE has also produced an HSE information sheet to assist employers and employees in complying with the Health and Safety (Sharp Instruments in Healthcare) Regulations 2013. This includes the requirement to have clearly marked and secure containers placed close to areas where medical sharps are used, and that instructions for staff on safe disposal of sharps must also be placed in those areas.

Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information

Jonathan Reynolds: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department has referred any Freedom of Information requests received by her Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on handling, in the last two years.

Guy Opperman: FOI requests are referred to the Clearing House in line with the published criteria available on gov.uk. The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across government to requests for information.

Social Security Benefits: Disability

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 11 June 2021 to Question 12293, how insights shared by disabled people on their lived experiences with the benefits system will inform the Government's upcoming health and disability Green Paper.

Justin Tomlinson: Through the Health and Disability Green Paper events we have gathered valuable insights from disabled people and their representatives. These insights have shaped the main themes of the Green Paper: improving claimant experience of our services, enabling independent living, and improving employment outcomes. The Department also commissions independent research with disability benefit claimants on an ongoing basis. The Green Paper will explore proposals to improve the health and disability benefit system in the short and long-term, which are grounded in research evidence, data analysis and consultation.

Carer's Allowance

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, (a) what assessment she has made of the potential merits for increasing the earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance, and (b) for what reason the earnings limit for Carer’s Allowance did not increase in line with CPI in April 2021.

Justin Tomlinson: Carer’s Allowance has an earnings limit which permits carers to undertake some part-time work if they are able to do so. We know that some carers are keen to maintain contact with the labour market to benefit from greater financial independence and social interaction, so we want to encourage carers to combine some paid work with their caring duties wherever possible. The Carer’s Allowance earnings limit is not linked to the number of hours worked or the level of “minimum wage” payments. There is no statutory requirement to review the earnings limit each year or to link it to some other factor. A number of factors are taken into account when looking at the Carer’s Allowance earnings limit to decide whether an increase is warranted and affordable, including changes to wages and work incentives and the position of the public finances. The earnings limit has increased by nearly a third since 2010 (from £100 to £128 net earnings per week), reflecting an increase in average earnings in recent years. These increases have helped ensure that the earnings limit has maintained its value. The earnings limit did not rise in April 2021 because it wasn’t considered appropriate to increase it due to the uncertainty of the economic climate and the impact on earnings growth. The department has been undertaking research which will touch on carers employment and potential barriers to them working. We will look at the findings from the research and other evidence and arguments with an open mind, and would consider changes to the way the earnings limit is calculated if they were deemed to be necessary and affordable.

Personal Independence Payment: Appeals

Dr Lisa Cameron: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps are being taken to limit the practice of sending successful PIP appeal cases back to the First-Tier Tribunal for a rerun.

Justin Tomlinson: There are no circumstances in which an appeal outcome would be sent back to the Tribunals Service with a request that it should be re-heard. The Secretary of State would refer a tribunal decision back to the Tribunals Service, where for example the tribunal’s decision was for some reason unimplementable and clarification was needed so that payment could be made – this is not a request for the case to be re-heard. The Secretary of State can also ask for a decision to be set aside and can seek permission to appeal a decision to the Upper Tribunal – both could result in a re-hearing but the grounds for applying are strictly limited. And ultimately it is of course for the tribunal to decide how such requests should be handled.

Department for Work and Pensions: Freedom of Information

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether her Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Guy Opperman: The Department does not operate any rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity. We respond to all Freedom of Information requests under our obligations as set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000. All Freedom of Information requests are judged purpose-blind and presentational sensitivity has no bearing on whether we should release information under the Freedom of Information Act or not.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Shellfish: Exports

Greg Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to his oral response to the Urgent Question  from the hon. Member for Barnsley East of 8 February 2021, Official Report, column 37, on UK Shellfish Exports, what progress his Department has made on that matter; and if he will make a statement.

Victoria Prentis: In 2019 correspondence between the UK CVO and the EU Commission, the Commission assured us that aquaculture Live Bivalve Molluscs (LBMs) for purification could be exported to the EU after the end of the Transition period. We understood that there would be a temporary export ban on wild harvested LBMs only, pending the introduction of new European Health Certificates (EHCs) in April 2021. The relevant correspondence was placed in the House of Commons library on 17 February. Following the end of the transition period, the Commission stated that LBMs from GB class B waters cannot be imported to the EU for purification. It is unacceptable that the Commission has changed its position regarding the export of live bivalve molluscs from Class B waters. There is no scientific or technical justification for this, and it is already impacting businesses on both sides of the channel. Defra intends to raise this issue through the SPS Committee under the TCA, now that the agreement has been ratified.Defra officials have continued to engage with the Shellfish Association of Great Britain and individual businesses to understand the impacts of this issue and adaptation options. The number of businesses experiencing significant direct impacts is small, but those impacts are extensive. The UK Government provided up to £23m in early 2021 through the Seafood Response Scheme (SRF) and Seafood Disruption Support Scheme. The SRF provided fixed cost support for eligible seafood business across the UK. Some LBM businesses benefitted from grants of up to £10k. In addition, £32.7m was committed to replace previous European seafood funding across the UK. In England the Fisheries and Seafood Scheme launched in April 2021. This scheme is open to shellfish fishers, cultivators, and processors, including those wishing to invest in infrastructure to help them adapt to new markets.The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has considered proposals from industry for changes to the process for classifying shellfish harvesting areas. The FSA agreed there was scope for improvement and, as a first step has reviewed its approach for Class A beds. The FSA is extending the criteria for excluding E. coli testing results that are uncharacteristically higher than those usually seen in an area. These changes will help ensure decisions affecting classification of harvesting areas are proportionate, provide appropriate levels of public health protection, and remain compliant with the legislation in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The FSA advises that there is no added risk to consumers from the changes. It has applied rigorous scientific evidence so public health will continue to be protected. In addition, the FSA has reviewed monitoring data for borderline Class B areas and, to date, 20 shellfish harvesting areas in England and Wales have been awarded Class A status for all or part of the year. These changes and updated classifications have the potential to impact a small number of individual harvesting areas and exports to the EU, illustrating the Government's commitment to support businesses while maintaining the existing high standards of consumer protection.

Food Supply

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what estimate he has made of the level of shortages of (a) fishmongers, (b) butchers and (c) poultry processors in the UK.

Victoria Prentis: This year Defra is working closely with industry to ensure that our sectors have the labour they need for 2021 and beyond. Defra is regularly speaking with industry and making use of all available information to understand the national labour supply picture. We will keep labour market data under very careful scrutiny to monitor any pressures in key sectors.Fishmongers, butchers, and poultry processors are eligible for the Skilled Worker route under the points-based immigration system. The Skilled Worker route is open to all nationals who wish to come to the UK for the purpose of working in a skilled job they have been offered. Migrants need to meet mandatory criteria - a job offer from an approved sponsor, a job offer at the appropriate skills level, English language skills and criminality checks.In 2021 and beyond, food and farming businesses will continue to be able to rely on EU nationals living in the UK with settled or pre-settled status. Over five million EU citizens and their families have been granted settled or pre-settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme to date, and the application deadline is 30 June 2021.The Government encourages all sectors to make employment more attractive to UK domestic workers through offering training, careers options, wage increases and to invest in increased automation technology.

Farmers: Fly-tipping

Gordon Henderson: What steps he is taking to help protect farmers from fly-tipping.

Rebecca Pow: We are preparing new legislation to tackle waste crime, such as fly-tipping. This includes reforming how those transporting waste are regulated and introducing mandatory electronic tracking of waste, subject to consultation. The Environment Bill will also ensure authorities have better access to evidence and improved powers of entry. The Defra-chaired National Fly-Tipping Prevention Group works with the National Farmers Union and others to share advice on how to prevent fly-tipping on private land.

Rivers: Pollution Control

Philip Dunne: What steps he is taking to improve river water quality.

Rebecca Pow: I would like to thank my Honourable Friend for the role he has played in championing action to tackle pollution. He will know that our amendments to the Environment Bill will require the Government to produce and report on a statutory plan to tackle unacceptable discharges of untreated sewage that affect our rivers and beaches. Water companies and the Environment Agency will also be required to report annually on storm overflow activity. We are also acting to tackle agricultural pollution in rivers, including funding advice to farmers and vital investment in slurry management.

Flood Control: Finance

Gerald Jones: What funding his Department is providing for the maintenance of flood defences.

Rebecca Pow: The Government recognises the importance of maintaining flood defence assets. Investment in Environment Agency asset management in England will be £178 million in 2021-22, an increase on the previous year. The Government will continue to review the future requirements for flood defence maintenance investment as part of future Spending Reviews.

Flood Control: Finance

Cat Smith: What funding his Department is providing for the maintenance of flood defences.

Rebecca Pow: The Government recognises the importance of maintaining flood defence assets. Investment in Environment Agency asset management in England will be £178 million in 2021-22, an increase on the previous year. The Government will continue to review the future requirements for flood defence maintenance investment as part of future Spending Reviews.

Home Office

National Security: Overseas Aid

Conor McGinn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of the reduction to the Official Development Assistance budget on the UK’s security; and if she will publish that assessment.

Chris Philp: The Foreign Secretary is the Secretary of State with overall responsibility for the UK ODA budget and assessing the impact of any reductions.Regarding the Home Office ODA budget allocation, the Home Office’s non-discretionary ODA in–donor spend on refugees and asylum seekers in the UK will not be changed, in alignment with our legal obligations.Between our ODA and CSSF allocations we have maintained the vast majority of our other ODA funded activity. Much of our work overseas seeks to support host country law enforcement agencies to develop their capabilities in preventing the spread of illicit commodities and illegal movement of people. The Home Office also has overseas law enforcement work which is funded from core non-ODA budgets. Some of our ODA funded activity was planned to stop at the end of FY 20/21 as part of conventional multi-year programme planning. In some cases the activity overseas has been scaled back.The interventions the Home Office are making with our ODA budget are crucial to addressing developing countries needs to become more open societies, strengthen public intuitions and facilitating economic development. This is in turn will support the UK’s ability to counter serious and organised crime and illegal migration in the future.

Retail Trade: Abuse

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to bring forward legislative proposals to help protect retail workers from physical or verbal abuse in the workplace.

Kit Malthouse: This Government considers a specific new offence of assaulting a retail worker is not needed. A wide range of offences already exist which criminalise threatening or abusive behaviour intended to harass, alarm or distress a person, and which would apply in cases of violence towards people whose work brings them into contact with members of the public. These offences cover the full spectrum of unacceptable behaviour from using abusive language to the most serious and violent offences. While the sentencing of offenders is extremely important, reporting, investigating and making sure there are consequences for these crimes is much more likely to drive down the numbers of incidents.

Home Office: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment they have made of the potential (a) threats and (b) opportunities of artificial intelligence in respect of their Department’s responsibilities.

Kit Malthouse: The Home Office has policies and procedures in place to ensure threats are thoroughly considered on a case-by-case basis, undertaking its statutory duties including Equality Impact Assessments, Data Protection Impact Assessments, plus the Analytical Quality Assurance process. The Home Office is committed to using the latest technology to improve public services including using processes and algorithms developed using such artificial intelligence techniques. This is not undertaken as standalone activity and these techniques could be employed across a wide range of Home Office business areas.

Crossbows

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment the Government has made of the potential merits of reviewing the statutory framework on the (a) possession and (b) use of crossbows.

Kit Malthouse: Crossbows are subject to statutory controls in the Crossbows Act 1987. This Act makes it an offence to sell or hire a crossbow, with a draw weight of 1.4 kilograms or greater to anyone under the age of 18 and prohibits anyone aged under 18 from buying or hiring a crossbow. It is also an offence for anyone under the age of 18 to possess a crossbow which can discharge a missile or parts of a crossbow which together (and without any other parts) can be assembled to form a crossbow capable of discharging a missile, unless they are under the supervision of a person who is aged 21 or older.Crossbows may also be considered as offensive weapons. The Prevention of Crime Act 1953 prohibits the possession, in a public place, of any offensive weapon without lawful authority or reasonable excuse. Additionally, under the Criminal Justice Act 1988 it is also an offence to be in possession of crossbow bolts in a public place without good reason or lawful authority.If a crossbow is misused to harm a person this is a very serious offence that could amount to actual bodily harm, grievous bodily harm or murder under existing criminal legislation. These offences attract severe penalties including life imprisonment in the case of murder.Whilst it is shocking and tragic when incidents occur where crossbows have been misused, these incidents are fortunately very rare. The vast majority of those using crossbows do so safely and responsibly. At the present time, we believe the laws around crossbows strike the correct balance between protecting the public and also allowing people to own and use crossbows for legitimate activities. In light of this, we have no current plans to review the statutory framework or introduce further legislation relating to crossbows.

Knives: Crime

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what additional funding his Department has allocated to reducing knife crime in (a) the UK and (a) Leicestershire.

Kit Malthouse: This Government is determined to turn the tide on knife crime in all areas, wherever it occurs. On 4 February 2021, the Government published a total police funding settlement of up to £15.8 billion in 2021/22, an increase of up to £636 million compared to 2020/21. Leicestershire Police will receive up to £215.0 million in 2021/22; an increase of up to £11.1 million from the previous year. The Home Office has invested a total of £242 million over three years in the 18 police force areas most affected by serious violence through the Serious Violence Fund (SVF). Over three years, £105.5 million of the SVF has been invested in multi-agency Violence Reduction Units (VRUs) in the 18 areas, with £2,640,000 allocated to the Leicestershire PCC to develop the Leicestershire VRU. VRUs bring together police, local government, health and education professionals, community leaders and other key partners to identify the local drivers of serious violence and agree a multi-agency response to them. In addition, Leicestershire Police have been awarded £2,855,990 of the remaining £104.9 million of the SVF, which has been allocated to the same 18 police forces to fund a surge in police operational activity.In addition to the Serious Violence Fund, the Home Office have invested £200 million in early intervention and prevention support initiatives over 10 years to support children and young people at risk of exploitation and involvement in serious violence, through the Youth Endowment Fund (YEF). On 6 May 2020, the YEF launched a new £6.5 million Covid-19 grant round to support vulnerable young people, aged 10 to 14, at risk of youth violence. In total, 2 grantees in Leicestershire are in receipt of funding from all grant rounds.

Migrant Workers: Social Services

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the impact of the end of free movement on the social care workforce.

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to make it easier for care workers to secure visas to work in the UK.

Kevin Foster: The Government recognises the vital contribution overseas NHS, health and social care workers have made and continue to make in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic. The introduction of the Health and Care visa last August made it quicker and cheaper for regulated health and care professionals – including Senior Care Workers - and their dependants to secure their visa.Since the start of the pandemic, the Government has also extended the visas of over 10,000 key, frontline regulated health and care professionals, and their eligible family members. Details of the free extension, including the eligible occupations can be found at www.gov.uk/coronavirus-health-worker-visa-extension.In response to issues raised during the Immigration and Social Security Coordination (EU Withdrawal) Act 2020, the Government will shortly commission an independent review of the impact of ending free movement on the care sector. This will be published in due course. Yet UK Immigration policy should not be viewed as an alternative to offering hard working care workers the type of rewarding packages and career development opportunities common in other sectors, especially at a time when many UK based workers may be looking for new opportunities as a result of the economic impacts of the global pandemic.

Tourists: EEA Nationals and Switzerland

Mr Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will take steps to ensure that tourists from countries in the EEA and Switzerland can travel to the UK without additional ID security checks.

Kevin Foster: Now freedom of movement has ended, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens may continue to travel to the UK for short trips, including for tourism, short-term business visits or short-term studies, and will not require a visa, but they will need to seek entry on arrival at the border and meet the requirements of the relevant immigration rules: they will also require a passport for travel to the UK from 1 October 2021.EU, EEA and Swiss citizens can also continue to use their biometric passports to pass through e-passport gates (Where available) on arrival.It is also worth noting there are no routine immigration controls on journeys within the Common Travel Area, which includes the Republic of Ireland, and none whatsoever on the Irish land border. This will not change.

General Register Office: Internet

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure that the General Register Office’s registration website (RON) is fit for purpose.

Kevin Foster: Following the recent introduction of new functionality there has been some intermittent system disruption for local registrars. This will be resolved as soon as possible.The majority of the system continues to work as expected, and this issue has had no significant impact upon the public when registering life events.

Asylum: LGBT People

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure LGBTQ+ individuals seeking asylum in the UK from homophobic, biphobic or transphobic persecution are (a) treated fairly and with dignity and (b) protected from persecution and harassment during their application.

Kevin Foster: All LGBTQ+ individuals seeking asylum in the UK are given every opportunity to disclose information relevant to their claim before a decision is taken, including where it may be sensitive or difficult to disclose.Each case is considered on its individual merits by caseworkers who receive extensive training. All available evidence is carefully and sensitively considered in light of published country information ensuring all individuals are treated fairly and with dignity.The Home Office work closely with a range of organisations specialising in asylum and human rights protection to trans and LGB communities.   We ensure LGBTQ+ asylum seekers are signposted to relevant NGOs specialising in the support of these individuals. This is done through an information leaflet given to all asylum claimants at the point of claim which includes sections on legal advice, additional help and assistance with links to relevant legal bodies and support organisations.   LGBTQ+ claimants can access specialist support upon claiming asylum from Rainbow Migration (formerly known as the UK Lesbian & Gay Immigration Group (UKLGIG)) who will guide them through the asylum procedure, including providing relevant information. They also offer one-to-one and group peer support to claimants.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Angela Crawley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has spent on (a) outdoor advertising, (b) social media, (c) radio media, (d) television media and (e) print media to advertise the 30 June 2021 deadline of the EU Settlement Scheme.

Kevin Foster: Since its launch in 2019, the EU Settlement Scheme advertising campaign has encouraged EU citizens and their family members to apply to the scheme and has helped to drive over 5.6 million applications.In May the Home Office launched the latest £1.8 million wave of UK advertising to ensure EU citizens and their family members apply to the scheme ahead of the 30 June 2021 deadline. This builds on the successful £6.8 million campaign already delivered since launch.Below is a breakdown of the campaign spend since launch in March 2019 for each requested channel:Outdoor advertising £1,313,000Social media £1,024,000Radio media (including community radio) £1,605,000Television media (including video on demand) £2,608,000Print media £194,500The remainder of the total cost has been spent on other paid media channels such as digital advertising and paid search.

Migrant Workers: Large Goods Vehicle Drivers

Jonathan Edwards: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 10 June 2021 to Question 7767 on Large Goods Vehicle Drivers: Vacancies, what assessment she has made of whether HGV drivers should be added to the Shortage Occupation List.

Kevin Foster: Upon advice from the independent Migration Advisory Committee (MAC), the Government broadened the eligibility of Skilled Worker visas from graduate jobs only to include jobs skilled to RQF level 3 (roughly equivalent to A-levels) and lowered the salary threshold to £25,600.The MAC found the job of HGV driver does not meet this threshold, so it is not eligible to be sponsored for a Skilled Worker visa and cannot be added to the Shortage Occupation List.Like other sectors the focus should be on training and recruiting from the UK based workforce in the first instance, especially given the impact of the pandemic resulting in more looking for secure new employment. Immigration policy will be considered alongside strategies to do this, not separately or as an alternative to doing so.

Immigration: EU Nationals

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent estimate she has made of the number of people from EU countries who have applied for EU Settled Status who will not be able to work in the UK from July 2021 as a result of a decision on their application having not yet been made.

Kevin Foster: A person who applies by the 30 June 2021 deadline will have their existing rights protected pending the outcome of their application. This is already set out in the Citizens’ Rights (Application Deadline and Temporary Protection) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020.From 1 July, they will be able to rely on their Certificate of Application as proof to access their right to work or rent, when verified by the relevant Home Office checking service. This means no-one will be unable to work due to their intime application to the EU Settlement Scheme not having being decided before the deadline for applications.

Homicide

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2021 to Question 187180, what the relationship was between the victim and the perpetrator in each murder case in the male and female residential categories.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2021 to Question 187180, what the (a) sex and (b) ethnicity was of the perpetrator responsible for each of the murders.

Philip Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2021 to Question 187180, what the sex of the (a) perpetrator and (b) victim was in each of the cases of murder in the male and female residential categories.

Kit Malthouse: The information as requested is not held in the relevant format.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what assessment they have made of the potential (a) threats and (b) opportunities of artificial intelligence in respect of their Department’s responsibilities.

Mr Alister Jack: The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland has made no assessment of artificial intelligence in respect of its responsibilities.

Scotland Office: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, to what extent their Department makes use of artificial intelligence in the implementation of its policies; and how much was spent from their Department’s budget on artificial intelligence in each of the last three years.

Mr Alister Jack: The Office of the Secretary of State for Scotland does not use artificial intelligence in the implementation of its policies and has not incurred any such expenditure.

Scotland Office: Freedom of Information

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Mr Alister Jack: My Department does not operate a red, amber, and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what estimate he has made of the level of covid-19 vaccine coverage of (a) low income and (b) lower middle income countries by the end of 2021.

Wendy Morton: Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK has championed the importance of rapid, equitable access to safe and effective vaccines. We are among the largest donors to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), committing £548 million, which leveraged $1 billion from other donors in 2020 through match-funding. This support to COVAX has been critical to it distributing COVID-19 vaccines to over 130 countries and economies. COVAX aims to provide COVID-19 doses to at least 30% of the adult population in low and middle-income countries by early 2022. The UK has also committed to sharing 100 million vaccine doses by June 2022, with the majority going to COVAX.We have not made an estimate of the level of COVID-19 vaccine coverage in the rest of the world.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the G7 communique of 13 June 2021, what estimate he has made of when global vaccine coverage will reach (a) 60 per cent and (b) 70 per cent.

Wendy Morton: Recognising the urgent need to speed up the delivery of doses, at the G7 Summit G7 leaders committed to sharing at least 870 million doses over the next year, and to make these doses available as soon as possible, taking the G7’s total commitment to one billion doses since our first UK Presidency meeting. The G7 will aim to deliver at least half of these by the end of 2021, primarily channelled through COVAX towards those in greatest need. COVAX aims to provide COVID-19 vaccine doses to at least 30% of the adult population in low and middle-income countries by early 2022. A World Health Organisation (WHO) managed process is underway, which will recommend the level of coverage needed to achieve different immunisation goals in different country settings. We have UK representatives on the task team guiding this process, and will build on the Summit's commitments by continuing to engage internationally, including with our G7 partners, on plans that support the ambitious global vaccination targets agreed by the G7. These include efforts to increase supply by working with industry to boost vaccine manufacturing, develop future strategies to support COVAX, and develop more sustainable approaches to financing vaccines, as well as wider future pandemic preparedness.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Freedom of Information

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Nigel Adams: The FCDO does not operate a RAG rating system to categorise Freedom of Information (FOI) requests. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from and their occupation.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Freedom of Information

Lisa Nandy: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has referred Freedom of Information requests to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on the handling of those requests in each of the last two years.

Nigel Adams: FOI requests are referred to the Clearing House in line with the published criteria available on gov.uk. The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across government to requests for information.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office: Freedom of Information

Yasmin Qureshi: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has referred any Freedom of Information requests received by his Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on handling, in the last two years.

Nigel Adams: FOI requests are referred to the Clearing House in line with the published criteria available on the gov.uk website.The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across government to requests for information.

Development Aid

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will provide a breakdown of the amount of Official Development Assistance spent on the 2021-22 thematic area trade and economic development in 2019-20.

Nigel Adams: The thematic areas announced for 2021-22 reflect the Foreign Secretary's strategic framework outlined to parliament on 26 November 2020. The Statistics on International Development (SID) National Statistics, published on GOV.UK, provide an overview of all UK spend on Official Development Assistance (ODA) by calendar year (2019 is the latest available year). Sector groupings reported in the SID are collected and reported in line with the OECD reporting directives, using the international OECD sector categories and will not directly correspond with the thematic areas announced for planned 2021-22 spend.

Colombia: Homicide

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations he has made to his Colombian counterpart on the reported ongoing killings of former FARC combatants who have laid down their weapons under the peace process.

Wendy Morton: The British Government regularly raises concerns with our Colombian counterparts regarding the persistent high levels of violence, and threats towards former FARC combatants. Most recently, we raised the issue on 21 April at the UN Security Council meeting, at which the UN Secretary General's Special Representative presented his quarterly report on Colombia's peace process.We will continue to support the Colombian Government's commitment to assisting former combatants in transitioning to civilian life, as agreed as part of the 2016 peace agreement. We have committed more than £63million over 5 years through our Conflict, Stability, and Security Fund to support reintegration, rural development, and security across conflict-affected regions. We have done this through programmes designed to build state capacity to ensure the safety of former combatants, and of other vulnerable individuals and groups, including outside of official reincorporation zones.

Overseas Aid: Grants

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what impact assessment he made of the potential effects of the deferral of start dates of the provisional grants under round 4 of the UK Aid Match programme.

Wendy Morton: We are monitoring the impact of the ODA budget reductions on our partners, including UK charities, very closely. We have protected all active UK Aid Match projects and we are fully committed to match fund all appeals which were approved under UK Aid Match round 4. Due to the reduction in ODA, we've had to make the difficult decision to defer the start dates for round 4 projects to 1 April 2022. Officials have been in touch with all 16 organisations affected to sign grant agreements in advance to provide additional assurance to their partners and supporters that the FCDO is still matching their fundraising appeal pound for pound.

Overseas Aid: Reviews

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement made on 26 January 2021 on development update HCWS735, what the next steps are for the International Development Strategy; and what consultation he plans to have with civil society groups as part of the development of that strategy.

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 20 April 2021 to Question 181249 on the international development strategy, when the Government plans to consult with (a) partners and (b) other stakeholders on the strategy.

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement on 26 January 2021 on development update HCWS735, when he plans to begin engagement with (a) Parliament, (b) the devolved Administrations, and (c) civil society on the International Development Strategy.

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement made on 26 January 2021 on development update, HCWS735, when the Government plans to begin targeted engagement with stakeholders on the International Development Strategy.

Chris Law: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Written Statement made on 26 January 2021 on development update HCWS735, what plans the Government has to undertake a consultation with (a) civil society and (b) development partners on the development of the International Development Strategy.

Wendy Morton: The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Secretary is leading work on the new International Development Strategy, which will be cross-government in scope. We look forward to engaging with partners and stakeholders, including civil society, Parliament and the devolved administrations, over the coming months. This will build on the extensive engagement and call for evidence that was undertaken to inform the Integrated Review.

Colombia: Police Brutality

Apsana Begum: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of reports of ocular injuries as a result of the actions of the Colombian police during protests in that country between 28 April and 31 May 2021.

Wendy Morton: UK ministers and senior officials regularly raise human rights issues, as well as specific cases of concern, with the Colombian Government, and in multilateral fora. We are clear that we support the right of all Colombians to protest peacefully, and that the right to peaceful assembly and association must be guaranteed.Colombia is a UK 'Human Rights Priority Country,' and we have raised our concerns with the relevant state actors in Colombia since protests began. Most recently, I spoke with acting Foreign Minister Adriana Mejía on 14 May to express my concerns, and welcome Colombia's commitment to transparent investigations into allegations of abuse. We look to the Colombian authorities to investigate fully any reports on excessive use of force against protestors, and take appropriate action against those responsible. Security services must be held accountable for their actions, and any complaints thoroughly investigated

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many of the 100 million surplus vaccines committed to by the Prime Minister at the G7 summit in June 2021 will be donated in each month of 2021.

Wendy Morton: The Prime Minister has announced that the UK will share 100 million vaccine doses within the next year, of which 30 million will be delivered by the end of 2021. Five million vaccine doses will be shared by the end of September, starting in the coming weeks. The vaccines will be drawn from across the UK's supply of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Janssen, Moderna, and others.We are unable to set our donations by month as decisions on which vaccines will be shared are based on the continued reliability of supply chains, regulatory restrictions, and advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the G7 pledge of 13 June 2021 on covid-19 vaccines for low income countries, where the vaccines pledged by (a) the UK and (b) the other nations will be manufactured.

Wendy Morton: The vaccines will be drawn from across the UK's supply of Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, Janssen, Moderna, and others. Decisions on which vaccines will be shared will be based on the continued reliability of supply chains, regulatory restrictions, and advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation. We will set out more detail in due course.The UK has played a leading role in the multilateral efforts to support global vaccination. The most important thing is that leaders work together to ensure equitable access to vaccines. We will build on the Summit's commitments by continuing to engage internationally, including with our G7 partners, on plans that support the ambitious global vaccination targets agreed by the G7. These include efforts to increase supply by working with industry to boost vaccine manufacturing as well as develop future strategies to support COVAX, and develop more sustainable approaches to financing vaccines, and wider future pandemic preparedness.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Preet Kaur Gill: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what immediate steps he is taking to tackle the global vaccine supply shortage.

Wendy Morton: At the G7 Summit, the Prime Minister announced that the UK will donate 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to the world within the next year, of which 30 million will be delivered by the end of 2021. 5 million doses will be shared by the end of September, starting in the coming weeks. 80% of the 100 million doses will go to COVAX, and the remainder will be shared bilaterally with countries in need.The UK is committed to working with industry and international organisations to facilitate expanded manufacturing of affordable COVID-19 vaccines at scale. UK funding of £250 million to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), and £548 million to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) supported vaccine development partnerships, and procurement for global vaccine access respectively. We welcome that COVAX has convened a Supply Chains and Manufacturing Taskforce to identify immediate and longer-term actions to increase the volume and security of global vaccine supply. We are working with Gavi, the COVAX Supply Chain, Manufacturing Taskforce, and other partners to expand quality and affordable vaccine supplies, including assessing existing manufacturing capacity to meet needs while also sustaining supplies for routine immunisation.

Church Commissioners

Question

Jim Shannon: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what recent steps the Church has taken to support people who have lost loved ones during the covid-19 pandemic.

Andrew Selous: Throughout the pandemic, the Church of England has operated an online book of remembrance to help families commemorate loved ones lost during this period. In addition, the Church has continued to operate its grief counselling services at a parish level to support those in the community in need. Across the country, parishes have also broadcast funerals virtually, allowing family and friends of the deceased across the globe to participate in the ceremony.   Discussions have now started at St Paul's Cathedral about a permanent memorial. Conversations are at the early stages of exploring a new memorial within the cathedral to create a space to remember all those we have lost to this virus. Other local memorials or commemorations are also being considered where appropriate.

Question

Jim Shannon: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, what steps the church is taking to support regenerative agriculture, plant more trees and be good stewards of hedgerows on its land.

Andrew Selous: The Church Commissioners work with their tenants to support the good stewardship of their land and are currently undertaking a natural capital assessment of its estate. The majority of our agricultural land is tenanted, and the Commissioners new farm business tenancies strongly encourage good environmental practice such as ensuring watercourses are kept clear, hedgerows are well maintained, and topsoil is preserved.The Church Commissioners direct landholdings currently total 184,700 acres as of the end of December 2020. 92,000 acres were in our Rural Portfolio, including land allocated for strategic development and 92,700 acres in our Timberland Portfolio. 120,500 acres (65%) of the Commissioners total land holding are in the UK, with the rest held across the globe. More detail can be found in the latest annual report, which is available here: https://www.churchofengland.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/Church%20Commissioners%20Annual%20Report%202020.pdf

St Margaret's Church Westminster: Westminster Abbey

Adam Holloway: To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, when the appointment of an Assessor to enquire into complaints made against the Royal Peculiar of Westminster Abbey by the congregation of St Margaret's Church will be made.

Andrew Selous: As a Royal Peculiar, Westminster Abbey does not come under the responsibilities of the Church Commissioners. Accordingly, the most appropriate person to deal with this enquiry is Mr Richard Tilbrook, the Prime Minister's Appointments Secretary at the Cabinet Office.

Cabinet Office

Prime Minister: Freedom of Information

Jack Dromey: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Julia Lopez: The Cabinet Office does not operate a rating system for Freedom of Information requests. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Philip Davies: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of people have died within 28 days of receiving a covid-19 vaccination.

Julia Lopez: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. I have, therefore, asked the Authority to respond. UKSAs response to PQ13902 (pdf, 64.9KB)

Cabinet Office: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, to what extent their Department makes use of artificial intelligence in the implementation of its policies; and how much was spent from their Department’s budget on artificial intelligence in each of the last three years.

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment they have made of the potential (a) threats and (b) opportunities of artificial intelligence in respect of their Department’s responsibilities.

Julia Lopez: The information requested on spend is not held centrally.The opportunities and considerations associated with the use of AI continue to be explored, as outlined in the guidance on building and using artificial intelligence in the public sector, published on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/a-guide-to-using-artificial-intelligence-in-the-public-sector

Cabinet Office: Freedom of Information

Jack Dromey: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Julia Lopez: The Cabinet Office does not operate a rating system for Freedom of Information requests. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from.

Homes England: Re-employment

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent discussions officials in his Department have had with officials in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on potential use of fire and rehire practices by Homes England.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, which departmental agencies are required to comply with the requirements set out in paragraph 4 of the Civil Service management code, published in November 2016, to submit to his Department proposals or arrangements that are contentious; and what submissions has he received under that provision since 1 January 2020.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with Mitie on proposals to fire and rehire staff employed by Mitie to fulfil its facilities management services for the civil service in the event that they do not accept new pay proposals.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what is his policy on the use of fire and rehire practices by departmental agencies.

Angela Rayner: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to prevent the use of fire and rehire practices by contractors to Government departments.

Julia Lopez: Departments are responsible for setting the terms and conditions of employment for their civil servants, in accordance with the rules of the Civil Service Management Code. The Civil Service Management Code only binds organisations that employ civil servants. Departments covered by the Civil Service Management Code are expected to communicate novel and contentious workforce proposals to the Cabinet Office as made clear by paragraph 4.The Government has been very clear that threatening fire and rehire as a negotiating tactic is completely unacceptable. We always expect employers to treat employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership working with trade unions, where relevant, constructively.Contracting Authorities decide the terms and conditions of the contracts they enter into with suppliers, and it is for suppliers to establish the pay, terms and conditions for their employees. Employee terms and conditions are protected by employment law when services are transferred between suppliers under Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) Regulations 2006. We closely monitor strategic suppliers to improve performance, ensure value for money and to deliver policy objectives.

Department for International Trade

Timber: Imports

Jane Stevenson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of trends in the level of the (a) price and (b) volume of timber imported into the UK since the end of the transition period; and if she will make a statement.

Greg Hands: The United Kingdom imported £3.2bn timber in 2020 (down from £3.4bn in 2019), over two-thirds of which (69%) was imported from the EU. In 2021, in the four months from January to April, the UK has imported £1.4bn of timber (70% from the EU). By weight this was 6.1 Megatonnes of timber imports in 2020. So far in 2021 (January to April) 2.4 Megatonnes of timber have been imported.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Camelot Group: Marketing

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was spent by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited on marketing in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Mr John Whittingdale: I refer you to my answer to your question on 14 May 2021 (PQ1420), which sets out marketing spend by the operator from 2009/10 to 2019/20.

Camelot Group: Consultants

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was spent by Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd on external consultants in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was spent by Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd on hospitality in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was spent by Camelot UK Lotteries Ltd on headhunters in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was spent by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited on international travel in each year from 2010 to 2020; and what the (a) destination and (b) purpose was of each of those trips.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was spent by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited on media training in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was spent by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited on (a) external lobbying and (b) public relations, in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was paid in bonuses to shareholders and senior managers of Camelot UK Lotteries Limited in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Alexander Stafford: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, how much was lost by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited to fraud in each year from 2010 to 2020.

Mr John Whittingdale: The National Lottery is regulated by the Gambling Commission. The Commission does not hold the information requested. Information on Camelot’s expenditure, returns to its shareholders, and the remuneration of its employees can be found within its Annual Reports and Accounts at the following location: https://www.camelotgroup.co.uk/about-us/reporting/.

Gambling: Video Games

Carolyn Harris: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment his Department has made of the impact on users of video games that contain gambling-like practices and are not currently regulated by gambling regulation.

Caroline Dinenage: Ensuring that video games are enjoyed safely by people is a priority for this government and we remain committed to tackling issues relating to safety and video games. This is why the Government launched a call for evidence in September 2020 specifically looking at issues and concerns around loot boxes and potential associations with gambling-related harms. The call for evidence closed in November 2020 and received more than 30,000 responses. The call for evidence sought detailed information on the impact of loot boxes on players, particularly children and young people, and evidence of potential harms. We are currently assessing the evidence gathered.The Government will be publishing its response to the call for evidence in the coming months. The Government stands ready to take action should the findings from the call for evidence support taking further measures to ensure players are protected.

Consumer Goods: Safety

John Nicolson: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what discussions his Department has had with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy on regulating the sale of unsafe goods on online marketplaces.

Caroline Dinenage: The Government is committed to tackling the sale of unsafe goods online. The Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) is responsible for product safety regulation. OPSS is reviewing the UK Product Safety framework to ensure it is fit for purpose, protects consumers, and enables businesses to innovate and grow.DCMS Ministers and officials have regular meetings and discussions with a wide range of stakeholders, including the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, on a variety of issues, including the regulation of the sale of unsafe goods on online marketplaces.

Internet: Hate Crime

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to tackle online homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps he is taking to tackle online homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

Caroline Dinenage: The government is committed to tackling homophobia, biphobia and transphobia, including the spread of such content online. On 12 May 2021, we published the draft Online Safety Bill, which sets out new expectations on companies to keep their users safe online. Under a new legal duty of care, in-scope companies, including social media, will need to tackle misogynistic, homophobic, biphobic and transphobic content and activity that is illegal, if it is on their services.In addition, companies with the largest audiences and with high-risk features will need to assess the risk to adults of legal but harmful content on their services. They must also set clear terms and conditions stating what legal but harmful material they accept (and do not accept) on their service. Companies will have to do this for both priority harms which the government will set out in secondary legislation and for any emerging harms they identify in their risk assessments.These duties will apply to homophobic, biphobic and transphobic hate speech, which do not meet the threshold of a criminal offence. Companies will need to enforce their terms and conditions consistently and transparently, and could face enforcement action if they do not. All companies in scope will be required to have effective and accessible user reporting and redress mechanisms.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Freedom of Information

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department has referred any Freedom of Information requests received by his Department to the central Cabinet Office Clearing House on Freedom of Information requests for advice on handling, in the last two years.

Caroline Dinenage: Freedom of Information requests are referred to the Clearing House in line with the published criteria available on gov.uk. The Clearing House, which has been in existence since 2004, provides advice to ensure a consistent approach across government to requests for information.

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport: Freedom of Information

Florence Eshalomi: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, whether his Department operates a red amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

Caroline Dinenage: The department does not operate such a system for categorising Freedom of Information requests. All FOI requests are treated exactly the same, regardless of who the request is from and their occupation.

Public Libraries: Digital Technology

Julie Elliott: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the findings of the report entitled Libraries on the front lines of the digital divide published in 2021.

Caroline Dinenage: Library services are a statutory responsibility of local government and each library authority determines how best to deliver its services and allocate funding for the benefit of its communities in a manner which is “comprehensive and efficient”. Library services already play a vital role in bridging the digital divide. Libraries Deliver: Ambition, the Government’s strategy for public libraries included improved digital access and literacy as one of the seven outcomes that libraries deliver for their communities. Information and Digital is one of the four Universal Library Offers recognised by the libraries sector, and libraries are flagged in the 2017 UK Digital Strategy. More recently their vital role was recognised through an exemption under the National Restrictions to enable provision of access to public PCs for people to use essential services during lockdown; we are aware that this was highly valued and used.

Members: Correspondence

Rosie Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, when he plans to respond to the letter from the hon. Member for West Lancashire of 23 April 2021 on animal charities and graphic advertisements, reference ZA56307.

Mr John Whittingdale: A response was issued on 10 June 2021 under the case reference MC2021/08554. We apologise for the delay in responding.

Broadcasting: Scotland

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what requests he has received from the Scottish Government on the devolution of powers in whole or in part over broadcasting.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Government has not received any requests from the Scottish Government on the devolution of powers in whole or in part over broadcasting. The UK government is committed to showcasing the importance of the UK’s broadcasters as part of a stronger, global Britain. Broadcasting is a reserved matter and there are a number of well established structures in place such as the Advisory Committee for Scotland which ensures that Ofcom, the UK’s independent communications regulator which regulates UK broadcasting, takes into account the interests and views of people living in Scotland.

BBC: Royal Charters

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what preparatory steps he is taking in advance of the mid-term review of the Royal Charter for the continuance of the BBC; what timeline has been set out for those preparations over the next 12 months; and whether terms of reference have been drafted for that review which will be made publicly available.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Royal Charter sets out that the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport must determine the scope and terms of reference (including the timing) of the review following consultation with the BBC, Ofcom, the Scottish Ministers, the Welsh Ministers and the Northern Ireland Ministers.The Mid-Term Review must not be undertaken before 2022 but the government has been clear that preparatory work will begin immediately.

Camelot Group: Computer Software

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2021 to Question 4020 on National Lottery: Computer Software, for what reasons the Government increased the minimum age for entry to (a) the National Lottery in December 2020 and (b) all games operated by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited in April 2021.

Mr John Whittingdale: Legislation was laid in December 2020 to increase the minimum age for all National Lottery products from 16 to 18 from 1 October 2021, in order to protect 16 and 17 year olds from the risk of gambling-related harm. This followed a public consultation in 2019, and more detailed information can be found in the consultation response and the accompanying impact assessment. As anticipated in the consultation response, the National Lottery operator was able to implement the change more swiftly, with the new minimum age being implemented online and in retail on 22 April 2021.

Camelot Group: Computer Software

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2021 to Question 4020, how many times Camelot UK Lotteries Limited has submitted (a) a risk assessment, (b) an assessment by the game design governance group and (c) academic research to the Gambling Commission for (i) new game proposals and (ii) changes to existing games in each year since 1994; and what the nature and outcome of each of those items was.

Mr John Whittingdale: The Gambling Commission is the independent regulator of the National Lottery and has statutory duties to ensure that the interests of all players are protected, the Lottery is run with due propriety and that returns to good causes are maximised. Details of significant regulatory decisions and the rationale supporting those decisions are published and can be found on the Gambling Commission’s website. It has not been possible for the Gambling Commission to collate the requested information in the time available, and confirm how many times the National Lottery operator has submitted (a) a risk assessment, (b) an assessment by the game design governance group and (c) academic research to the Gambling Commission for (i) new game proposals and (ii) changes to existing games in each year since 1994; and the nature and outcome of each of those items.

Camelot Group: Computer Software

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2021 to Question 4020 on National Lottery: Computer Software, (a) how many times Camelot UK Lotteries Limited has submitted a player protection strategy for approval by the Gambling Commission and (b) how many of those submissions related to (i) underage and (ii) excessive play in each year since 1994.

Mr John Whittingdale: The operator is subject to conditions set out within the Licence which specify that it must adopt, maintain and implement strategies to prevent underage and excessive play on the National Lottery and that such strategies shall first have been approved by theGambling Commission. Information on the more specific requirements of the operator in this respect can be found within Condition 7 of the Third Licence. It has not been possible for the Gambling Commission to collate the requested information in the time available and confirm how many times a player protection strategy has been submitted to them for approval by the operator since the National Lottery was launched in 1994.

Camelot Group: Sales

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2021 to Question 4017 on Camelot Group: Profits, what proportion of the increase of digital sales from 25.4 per cent in financial year 2018-19 to 31.1 per cent in financial year 2019-20 was in (a) draw-based and (b) instant win game sales.

Mr John Whittingdale: National Lottery digital sales increased by £622m between 2018/19 and 2019/20. 48% of this growth was due to increased sales of Interactive Instant Win Games (IIWGs) and 52% was due to increased sales of online Draw-Based Games.

Camelot Group: Sales

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 24 May 2021 to Question 4018 on Camelot Group: Sales, if he will publish sales figures by Camelot UK Lotteries Limited for Instant Win games by (a) physical scratch cards and (b) online Instant Win entries in each year since 2009.

Mr John Whittingdale: Camelot UK Lotteries Limited is a private, commercial organisation which is currently operates the National Lottery under the terms of the third licence. The National Lottery is regulated independently of Government by the Gambling Commission. DCMS does not routinely collect separate information about sales of (a) physical scratchcards and (b) online Instant Win games, and as such there are currently no plans to publish this information.

Wales Office

Wales Office: Freedom of Information

Jack Dromey: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, whether his Department operates a red, amber and green rating system for categorising Freedom of Information requests according to their presentational sensitivity.

David T C Davies: The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales works to answer Freedom of Information requests within the timescales set out in the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and does not operate a red, amber and green rating system in doing so.

Wales Office: Artificial Intelligence

Mr Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, to what extent their Department makes use of artificial intelligence in the implementation of its policies; and how much was spent from their Department’s budget on artificial intelligence in each of the last three years.

David T C Davies: The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales does not use artificial intelligence in the implementation of its policies. There has been no expenditure incurred by the Office on artificial intelligence.

Women and Equalities

Gay Conversion Therapy

Lilian Greenwood: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she has taken to ensure her Department’s consultation on banning conversion therapy will prioritise the voices of survivors of those practices.

Martyn Day: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, what steps she has taken to ensure her Department’s consultation on banning conversion therapy will prioritise the voices of survivors of those practices.

Kemi Badenoch: Any ban we bring forward must work for those who need it most, especially victims and survivors. We have already met with conversion therapy survivors, to hear about their experiences. We have committed to launching a consultation in September and this will be vital for ensuring the action we take is informed, effective and proportionate. I would encourage anyone who has been a victim of conversion therapy to respond to our consultation when it launches in September.

Males

Henry Smith: To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, whether the Government has made an assessment of the potential merits of appointing a Minister responsible for male-specific issues.

Kemi Badenoch: The Equality Act requires the interests of both sexes to be considered when assessing equality impacts. The Government is focussed on delivering genuine equality of opportunity by addressing the real problems people, whatever their sex, face in their everyday lives using evidence and data.That is why we recently announced the Equality Data Programme, a comprehensive project to improve equality data, enhance our understanding of equality, and get to the heart of the barriers all people face.As ministerial appointments are made by the Prime Minister, any changes to ministerial titles would be a matter for him to consider. However, all Equalities Ministers have a responsibility to carefully consider issues affecting men and boys as part of their remit even where this is not necessarily indicated in their job title.